15/5/13 page 1 · kontakt scripting can be very complicated even if you are ... 15/5/13 page 12 the...

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INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing the GUI Shell. It’s a unique thing in that it’s an empty Kontakt instrument that allows YOU to put YOUR samples into it and have a fully functional, scripted panel at your disposal. Ideal if you make your own samples/sounds but aren’t able to do scripting. It IS very complicated if you’re not that way inclined … like myself … which is why we have our own resident scriptmeister in the form of the enviably gifted Mario Krušelj here at HS Towers … Kontakt scripting can be very complicated even if you ARE that way inclined! So with the GUI Shell, you can make your own samples, pop into Kontakt’s mapping editor to assign and map them and then take advantage of a comprehensive user interface panel made by a professional Kontakt scripter so you can tweak your sounds without having to delve into Kontakt’s sometimes arcane edit pages. I have included a few basic samples to get started and something play with. These are a simple sawtooth, square, a pulse width modulation (PWM), techno ‘iSaw’ and white noise. I’ll be honest and tell you that the GUI Shell was initially designed for novices but that pesky scriptmeister of mine kept suggesting extra features that make it equally suitable for those who have a more advanced grasp of Kontakt. That adds a few complications but I’d like to think it’s all put together in a way that both can be accommodated. I will describe not only what the panel’s controls do but also how to create your own programs.

Stephen Howell

IMPORTANT NOTICE You may use the GUI Shell for your own sounds/programs/patches/NKIs and we hope you enjoy using. However… YOU CANNOT USE THE GUI SHELL FOR THE RELEASE/DISTRIBUTION OF COMMERCIAL AND/OR SHARE/FREEWARE PRODUCTS WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION FROM HOLLOW SUN. I WILL PURSUE CONTRAVENTIONS. AFFORDABLE LICENSING OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE IF YOU WISH TO RELEASE A PRODUCT USING THE GUI SHELL. Sorry to bring the legal stuff up so soon but it has to be done. Let’s press on…

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INSTALLATION

No special installation is required. Once the .ZIP is downloaded, unzip it (if it doesn’t unzip automatically), open up the folder, open the ‘Instruments’ folder and double click any of the programs (.nki). The GUI Shell requires Kontakt 4.2.4 (or higher) and uses new functionality introduced in this version such that all the graphics components, etc., are wrapped up in new ‘Resource Containers’. The only caveat is that these must be in the same folder as the instruments and samples…

Unless you really know what you are doing, it is unwise and not recommended to move anything out of this folder (apart from ‘Documentation’ perhaps … although what’s the point?) to different locations. As long as everything is kept together in the same folder, the library is fairly ‘portable’ and you can place it where you want … in with your other Hollow Sun or 3rd party library or in with the rest of the Kontakt library, whatever.

NOTE: We have not paid Native Instruments the not inconsiderable sum of money to have them ‘authorise’ GUI Shell. This does not present any problem whatsoever if you have the full version of Kontakt 4.2.4 or higher other than it cannot be ‘added’ to the official Kontakt library and won’t appear in the Libraries tab to the left of Kontakt. But it can loaded simply by double clicking on the NKI or by dragging the NKI onto the Kontakt ‘rack’ and you can navigate your way to it by way of the Browser to load from there. You will have full functionality. This also means that there are limitations if you try to use the GUI Shell with the Kontakt Player, most notably that it will be in ‘demo mode’ and will time out after about 15 minutes.

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CONTROL PANEL

The main control panel is the main working area for the modification of your own sounds…

OSCILLATOR

This area is to control the pitch of your samples. P-LFO Controls the amount of pitch modulation by the PITCH LFO.

The control is bi-polar. This allows you to invert the LFO waveform

P-ENV Controls the amount of modulation by the PITCH ENVELOPE.

Again it’s bi-polar meaning that you can upwards and downwards pitch sweeps.

TUNE Allows tuning of the samples. Note that this is semitone steps

but holding SHIFT and adjusting TUNE gives fine tuning. BALANCE Allows you to set the balance of you samples across the

keyboard range. Fully counter clockwise, the emphasis is on the lower end of the keyboard and clockwise is the opposite – the emphasis is on the higher regions of the keyboard range.

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You will notice the GROUP select in the OSCILLATOR LABEL. Don’t worry about that for now – we’ll delve into that later. FILTER

This is where you can modify tone … quite extensively. CUTOFF Sets the cutoff frequency for the selected filter type (see below).

The cutoff frequency dictates at what frequency harmonics are removed above (or below) it.

RESONANCE Sharpens the response of the selected filter type. TYPE Allows you to select diferent filter types. These are…

LP Lowpass filter. Harmonics above the cutoff frequency are

attenuated. This is the usual filter type used for typical synth sounds.

BP Bandpass filter. Harmonics either side of the cutoff

frequency are attenuated. This will give a ‘fizzy’ kind of sound.

HP Highpass filter. This attenuates harmonics below the

cutoff frequency. This creates a thin sound which can be useful sometimes.

MG Emulates the Moog ‘ladder’ lowpass filter. It’s the same

as the LP filter but with some non-linear distortions. P5 Based around the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 lowpass

filter which was used by Native instruments in their (sadly and bizarrely) discontinued Pro 53.

PH Selects an ‘all pass’ filter which allows all sorts of

possibilities. On it’s own, it allows the creation of unusual tones but when modulated by the LFO and can create all manner of phase shifting effects.

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F-LFO Sets the amount of modulation (i.e. filter sweep) by the filter

LFO. The control is bi-polar allowing you to turn the control waveform upside down.

F-ENV Sets the amount of filter sweep by the filter envelope. Again, bi-

polar for ‘upside down’ filter sweeps. You can swap the last two controls for further functionality by clicking on the LED in between them…

The controls set velocity sensitivity to cutoff and keyboard tracking of the cutoff frequency. All told, the filter section allows a great deal of tonal modification and variation. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the ‘modelled’ filters (i.e. MG and P5) but they do have a different character to the standard LP filter. It’s also impossible to go into all the possible permutations (well, not without writing a further hundred pages of wibble) – the key is experimentation. Also the effect of the filter(s) will depend on the sample(s) you have assigned. OUTPUT This section governs amplitude…

VOLUME Allows you adjust output volume. PAN Allows you to pan the sound. These two controls are particularly useful when layering groups (see later). VELOCITY Sets overall velocity sensitivity of amplitude for the sound.

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Clicking on the LED in this section reveals further functionality…

AMP MOD Sets the amount of amplitude modulation by the AMP/PAN

LFO. This allows ‘tremolo’ and other effects. PAN MOD Sets the amount of pan modulation (or ‘autopan’) for the sound

and allows the sound to move between the left and right outputs.

ENVELOPES

The three envelopes are identical with attack, decay, sustain and release controls which should need no further explanation. PITCH ENVELOPE affects the pitch of your samples, FILTER ENVELOPE allows tonal sweeps while AMP ENVELOPE shapes the overall sound. LFOS

Again these are identical with dedicated LFOs for pitch, filter, amplitude and panning. RATE sets the speed of the selected LFO, DELAY sets the time bdefore the effect is heard. WAVE selects the control waveform and the choices are sine, sawtooth, square and random. VIA allows you to select how the LFO will reach its destination…

MW The modwheel (or joystick, whatever) controls the depth of

modulation. AFT Aftertouch controls the depth of modulation. DIR The LFO is sent to the destination directly.

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EFFECTS

The GUI Shell features a comprehensive chain of effects… DIST A simple distortion unit with a variable AMOUNT control. MODULATION FX You can select chorus, flanging or phase shifting using

the LED switches. RATE sets the speed of the effect, FEEDBACK heightens the effect (when chorus is selected, this control sets the phase difference between the two LFOs that drive the chorus effect) and AMOUNT sets the wet/dry balance.

ECHO Adds an echo effect. TIME sets the delay time from short,

slapback (counter clockwise) to long, alpine echoes (clockwise), FEEDBACK sets the number of repeats and DAMPING adds a high frequency cut to the repeat echoes so that each successive repeat is progressively more mellow. This occurs in natural echo but also on older tape echo decvices. The AMOUNT sets the level of the echo effect.

REVERB Selects from a number of custom convolution reverb

impulses – spring, hall and plate. The SIZE control allows you to shorten or lengthen the selected reverb’s decay time. Amount sets the level of the reverb effect.

CONCLUSION That’s pretty much it for the actual control panel at the basic level. If you have used any VSTi synths or knobby hardware synths, it should make sense. Let’s have a look at how to assign samples to the GUI Shell.

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MAKING UP A PROGRAM/PATCH/NKI

First of all, you need to click on the ‘spanner’ top left to enter the ‘edit mode’..

This will show this screen…

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At the simplest level, all you need really do is simply drag the sample(s) onto the note(s) you want to assign them to. E.g…

Now drag the left and right edges of the yellow assigment marker…

The screen shot above is the simplest sample assignment you can make – one sample spanning the entire keyboard range (of a five octave keyboard) and assigned to C4 … which is a perfectly valid thing to do for some samples despite everyone banging on about multi-sampling. You can also layer samples by dragging samples on top of each other.

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For some sounds (especially synth sounds) one sample across the keyboard range can sometimes be more effective as the sample speeds up and slows down across the keyboard range (particularly low down – it can take on quite an ominous quality that can be great for drones). However, to create a multi-sampled instrument, the procedure is much the same – drag the sample to a note and extend the range and repeat for each sample/note … if needs be – you could have samples for every note. E.g.:

Now – and very importantly – SAVE YOUR NEW CREATION USING THE FILES ICON AT THE TOP OF THE KONTAKT PANEL…

And that’s about it, really. No filters to insert, no envelopes and LFOs and effects to assign and set up. With the scripted panel you can just close the edit screen and have fun making sounds with the controls. But there’s more for the more adventurous soundsmith…

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The supplied NKIs come with two groups as standard – that’s kind of like having two synths in one, each with different samples and the panels can be tweaked independently or as one. It gets a little complicated if you’re new to this so pay attention! A group can be regarded as a complete synth in its own right, each with their own samples (or waveforms – call them what you will) assigned and their own set of (identical) controls. Thus you can layer sounds, detune them, have different envelopes, LFO rates, filter settings, etc.. Think Roland and their ‘tones’. Well, this is similar.

So, in other words, click on GROUP 1 in the GROUP EDITOR, assign you sample(s) in the MAPPING EDITOR then click on GROUP 2 and assign other samples in the MAPPING EDITOR. Then close the EDIT pages and tweak away from the panel. The group you want to tweak can be selected here…

The EDIT ALL GROUPS option allows you to set the parameters for both layers together – filter cutoff, envelopes, whatever but then aspects of each layer can be tweaked indepentently. As a simple example… In Kontakt’s EDIT pages, select GROUP 1 and assign a sawtooth wave in the MAPPING EDITOR. Now select GROUP 2 and do the same. Close the EDIT pages, select EDIT ALL GROUPS and set the basic parameters (cutoff, envelope, whatever). Now select, say, GROUP 1 from the drop down and add a hint of vibrato to the oscillator. Now select GROUP 2 from the drop down and maybe add some pitch env modulation and detune it from GROUP 1. Result equals big pad sound, whatever. For a bass synth sound, open Kontakt’s EDIT pages, assign a sawtooth to Group 1, a square to Group 2, flick out of edit, select EDIT ALL GROUPS from the drop down and set the controls on the panel as you want. Now select Group2 from the dropdown and tune that down an octave to create a thicker sound … maybe a nice synth bass or something. Or maybe assign a sawtooth to both groups, exit Kontakt’s edit mode, select EDIT ALL GROUPS, flick to GROUP 1 or 2 in the drop down and tune it up a fifth for a good prog rock lead. All sorts of possibilities.

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But there’s more… You can create your own groups to build up huge stacks. Here’s how… In the GROUP EDITOR, there’s a function called DUPLICATE GROUP…

Selecting that will leave you with this…

You’ll want to rename the new group you’ve just created…

You can now fill it with your sample(s) and leave Kontakt’s EDIT pages to return to the scripted panel. However…

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of a long standing bug in Kontakt, when you duplicate a group (or paste in material from another NKI), the background (or ‘wallpaper’) won’t be shown when you leave the EDIT pages…

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Don’t worry, it’s not a problem – just click on the ! icon at the top of the panel before leaving the EDIT pages…

If you forget (as I invariably do), just go back into EDIT and click ! then leave EDIT – all will be back to normal. Yes – it’s a damned nuisance! But anyway…

In the main, pretty scripted panel, the new group you’ve created will be listed in the oscillator drop down…

You can have as many groups as you like simply by repeating the above process. And you can name each group whatever you want as well…

Created thusly using DUPLICATE GROUP and then replacing the samples with others…

For more details on creating groups, assigning samples, mapping, etc., please consult the Kontakt manual – it’s beyond the scope of this little user’s guide. But as I hope you can see, there are many possibilities to be had with the GUI Shell.

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However, some caveats… • Editing LFO waveform parameters from within Kontakt's edit mode is

possible, however those settings will be overwritten as soon as you change the waveform from the GUI panel.

• You can use your own impulse responses for the reverb, but this won't be

remembered when NKI is saved (last selected IR from the GUI panel will be loaded).

• Best not to change things like filter order, effects order, modulator names,

etc., because it will throw the script out of whack.

You may find some other little issues if you go fiddling deep within Kontakt’s EDIT pages because the scripting might not (or won’t) accommodate them (and might go horribly wrong) so best to keep within the confines of the provided GUI for predictable results. Kontakt is bloody brilliant but does have its quirks, it has to me said (we are forever fighting them here). Please note that I/we cannot enter into extensive tech support on the Kontakt side of things and I/we do assume a certain working knowledge of Kontakt. Please read the manual for more in-depth details. But anyway…

MIDI LEARN

You can map the GUI Shell’s controls to your MIDI controller using the MIDI ‘learn’ function…

Right click (or, if using a single button mouse on a Mac, hold the CMD key and click) on a control. You’ll see a contextual menu. Click on ‘Learn MIDI CC# Automation’ (it will highlight in orange) and move the appropriate control on your controller. Job done! If you change your mind, repeat the above and you’ll see a contextual menu which adds a ‘cancel’ function. Click on that to remove the automation.

RESETTING CONTROLS

If you tweak a control and want to reset it to its default, on a Mac, press and hold the ‘Apple key’ when you click on the control; on a PC, press and hold the CTRL key when you click on a control. The control will reset to its default value.

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HELP TEXT

If INFO is enabled in Kontakt…

When you hover over a control, a simple description of its function is shown in the info bar at the bottom of the Kontakt window…

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The small print… Once you have bought and downloaded HS products, they are yours to use as you wish and you have an unlimited license to use the sounds within any musical production you are involved in. If you have several computers or samplers, you are free to copy your purchase to use on those. However...

WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR OWN PRIVATE USE WITH THE SAMPLES CONTAINED WITHIN THIS PRODUCT IS NO CONCERN OF MINE. HOWEVER… HOLLOW SUN SOUNDS/SAMPLES CANNOT BE USED IN ANY COMMERCIAL PRODUCT (HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE) AND/OR SOUND LIBRARY. YOU CANNOT GIVE COPIES TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, BAND MEMBERS, COLLABORATORS, ETC.. THESE PRODUCTS ARE LICENSED TO YOU FOR YOUR USE AND YOUR USE ALONE. IF A PROJECT REQUIRES THAT YOUR COLLABORATORS REQUIRE THE SOUNDS, THEY SHOULD BUY THEM. YOU CANNOT RE-DISTRIBUTE FOR FREE OR SELL HOLLOW SUN PRODUCTS. NEITHER CAN YOU CONVERT THEM TO SOME OTHER FORMAT IN ORDER TO RE-DISTRIBUTE OR SELL THEM. SORRY, BUT DOING THE WORK TO CONVERT THEM TO (SAY) SOUNDFONT FORMAT, WHATEVER, DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO RE-DISTRIBUTE/SELL THEM IN THAT FORMAT!! YOU CAN, HOWEVER, MAKE THE NKI PROGRAMS AVAILABLE TO OTHER USERS OF THIS PRODUCT BUT YOU MUST NOT INCLUDE THE SAMPLES, ONLY THE NKI. HOLLOW SUN WILL FOLLOW UP ANY CONTRAVENTIONS TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW TO PROTECT ITS COPYRIGHT. PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT AND THE WORK THAT HAS GONE INTO THE CREATION AND PRODUCTION OF THESE SOUNDS. SUPPORTING HOLLOW SUN HONESTLY ENSURES THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER PRODUCTS. THANK YOU.

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USING THIS WITH THE FREE KONTAKT PLAYER

You CAN use the GUI Shell with the free Kontakt Player and it will play and work perfectly but with the following restrictions: • There is a time limit. This varies according to the version of the Player

you have. • You can edit the sounds to your requirements exactly as though you have

a full working copy of Kontakt but you cannot save any edits or tweaks you make.

• When the Player times out, you can restart it immediately and continue

(although you will, of course, have to reload everything).

• Please note that when the Kontakt player times out, it will close down all other instances of Kontakt instruments you may have open.

To enjoy Hollow Sun’s products to their full, it is recommended you have a full version of Kontakt 4.2.4 or higher otherwise it’s compromise all the way. All company/trade/brand names shown or implied in this guide are the property of their respective owners.

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