Wsm - June 2006 - Issue 002

Sound Magazine June 2006 #002

www.Wusik.com

S o u n d s ElektroWusik Volume II Presets Accoustic SoundSets Jennie Baby Grand Piano

A r t i c l e s The Past, the Present and the Future of Wusik From the Forum How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation William’s Method for Creating WusikSND Files

...and more

Sound Magazine

Letter from the Editor Well,

Speaking of samples.

our first issue has seen the light of day and from the many reviews, opinions, suggestions and emails we received, I believe it was a success!

Our readers were thrilled with the tutorials, how-to’s, articles and ESPECIALLY the samples and presets that allowed them to dance and trance the night away.

This is where things get down right scary. We present to you a Baby Grand Piano, Santur, Celtic Pennywhistle, Peruvian Pan Flute and Shell Shaker, a variety of Harmonicas, tons of awesome analog trance, dance and techno-ready leads, basses, strings, brass, woodwind and other-worldly instruments.

Now, how do we top last issue? Easy, we give you more of the same, freshen up the look, listen to our reader’s suggestions and ideas and sample TONS and TONS of new instruments and make hundreds and hundreds of brand new presets for your month-long enjoyment.

And for the grand finale - three vocalists in a variety of vowel soundings and phrases in several effect types and a SWEET Vocoder section.

Guess

what? We did it. In this issue you are going to hear from some sound designing legends. The T3 team (Tim Conrardy, ToTc and Teksonik) are going to give you tips on how to spice up your Wusik creations, tricks and general advice - and they back it up with presets for you to try at home.

I truly believe we have outdone the previous issue and I wait, with anticipation, at your opinions and suggestions.

Mike Felker

Re-edited by MoniKe

We have a new section entitled “From The Forum,” where we outline a few users questions and the kind people who helped them - to the benefit of the entire Wusik community.

Funkychickendance has written an excellent article where he reviews and outlines developers that are making new and exciting products for Wusik station. It’s a truly great read and very informative.

Karmacomposer shows you step-by-step how to create your own presets in a variety of situations and when you are done with this tutorial, you will have made a baby grand piano and another piano with analog string and brass that is velocity sensitive, dual-zoned and multilayered - and all from using this month’s samples.

We have two announcements - suggested by one of our awesome readers, Cosy Pete, and they are so good, you are going to hear the low-down right here! www.prodyon.de 2

Wusik Sound Magazine

In This Issue:

05

25

Bitz-n-Bytz

10

Hot Preset Ideas

More Designers talk about Wusik Engine

"Bitz, get over here”

06

#002 - June 2006

The Past,

the Present and the Future of Wusik

29

William explains everything

Method for Creating WusikSND Files

From the Forum

William’s

The Batch Converter

Forum posts that were either asked or answered...

15

How to Create a

Preset in Wusikstation I wish I could make samples and presets like that!

31

What’s Included

In the DVD / Download - ElektroWusik Volume II Presets - Accoustic SoundSets - Jennie Baby Grand Piano ...and many more

38

About the

Contributors Wusik Sound Magazine

3

Add the most expressive piano to your collection.

HQ Piano Set 1: Essenfelder 120 meg Full Stereo Piano - 47 Stereo Key-Zones (divided D into Left and CA Right files) /

O

y nl

$

95 9.

U

SD

www.wusik.com Or get all our HQ collection with the V3 Platinum Upgrade.

Taking to the next level...

4

Wusik Sound Magazine

Bitz-n-Bytz “Bitz, get over here.

I need you for a sec.” shouted Bytz. Bitz hurried over to see what was going on.

“We have a new customer coming into the studio today and I need to get things ready. Why don’t you make sure all the hardware is working and turned on and get three Sennheisers ready on stands, okay.”

Bitz nodded his head vigorously and started his new task.

Bytz

was very excited. He had bid on a new project and won. So, now he gets to record a semi-famous-in-his-own-mind up-and-coming soon-to-be superstar. Visions of platinum albums circled his head as he looked at the bare walls of their recording studio.

Now all Bytz had to do was power up the computer and get all the recording software and synths into place.

by Mike Felker that displayed the current number of days left and the number of people that joined it.

"Oh crap,” he muttered, “this is the last day and only 25 people signed up.”

Then he noticed the price . . . “$1,250.” was having a small coronary attack! over, looked at the screen and feinted.

"We

don’t have that kind of money,” said Bytz. He was locked in, too.

"Well,

at least we’ll have it today for the client - so it’s not a total loss. Maybe we’ll make enough money to cover the cost?”

Bytz was dreaming.

Clients rarely paid him up front, on-time and some times never at all. Just then he saw the fine print that he never read

"Please

before. delivery.”

allow 10-12 months for

Bytz

landed right next to Bitz. After a while, they both got up and Bitz started to get excited. He ran out of the room without saying a word, as usual.

Bytz was sweating bricks. He promised the client he was going to DAZZLE him with new state-of-theart instruments that NO ONE ELSE was using. “I’m dead,” he cried.

Bitz was happily humming as he went about his

Suddenly Bitz was back in the room.

chores, turing on this machine and dusting that one.

He set up the mic stands and made sure all the XLRs were attached and in working order, the perfect image of efficiency.

"Free

Bytz

turned on the power to their new computer, since the last one blew up as a result of a virtual instrument he had downloaded from an unknown synth programmer. From now on he was staying with big corporates, that’s for sure. Bytz had noticed several months ago a group buy for a virtual synth he thought was perfect for this client and entered. Besides, he was going to save $1,000 off this product. He hadn’t checked the status, but he was sure they would get the required 65,000 entries.

The new computer, so silent he had to check it was actually on, booted with no problems. He got a great deal after he saw an ad on TV for it. $199 with a mail in $250 rebate and a free printer and monitor upgrade - how could he go wrong? He went online and immediately surfed to the website holding he group buy. He scanned for the web page

Bytz Bitz came

With him, last month’s Puter Music Magazine. He pulled out the DVD that came with it and pointed to the lead article: with this issue - HyperActive.” Bytz read the article and exclaimed “You’re a genius” to Bitz.

They loaded it onto their brand new super cheap computer and started up their DAW software. They added their new, free HyperActive synth and started to play a few notes on the MIDI master keyboard.

A few notes played and then tons of static filled the room, coming from the monitors. All of a sudden the computer froze and smoke started billowing from the cpu. Bytz forgot that he only had 32 megabytes of SDRAM with this computer.

The doorbell rang out throughout the house - it was their new client. Bitz and Bytz were mortified.

Bytz slapped his forhead and exclaimed “I shoulda had a Wusik Engine!”

Wusik Sound Magazine

5

t h e Pas t , t h e and the

P re s e n t

F u tu re o f W usi k William explains everything you want to know about Wusik, but didn't care to ask.

How did this all start?

The name Wusik was actually

based on a dream I had one night. I woke up and knew I had to create a new company named Wusik. No, I'm not joking, this is for real. Only a few days after I realized that Wusik was actually based on the word Music, but with “W” and “K” replaced at the start and end: “W” from my Nick Name - William - and ”K” from my last name.

Why William?

Simple, my original

name is a bit hard to say, so when I was young, people started to call me William instead. Nothing fancy, just a simple reason. My Mother actually calls me Wilhelm when she is mad at me, its the German version of my name. Although I'm 50% German, (from my Father's side) she is actually 100% Italian. You can imagine how our family dinners were like.

I'm a musician before I'm a programmer A lot of people think that the Wusikstation name was based on the Wavestation Synth.

Actually, that's not correct. When I first started to code the new Synth, I was thinking on a WORKstation. Hence the name WUSIKstation. Also, it was not based on the Wavestation, but rather on an Ensoniq Workstation Synth, the TS/ASR series.

For those who actually knew the Synth, to call Wusikstation a Wavestation, wouldn't make much sense, but more to base it on the TS10, which I 6

Wusik Sound Magazine

actually had to. The TS/ASR series also had Wavesequencing, just like the Wavestation. It didn't have all the Wavestation features and sounds, but it was basically the same idea.

Workstation had to be fast, stable and with a high sound quality But I didn't stop there, it was never close to being a clone/copy of any Synth. I'm a musician before I'm a programmer. So when I started to plan things, I thought on how I could improve things. What was missing from all the other synths I used so far. I no longer had my TS keyboard, as it had too many problems. I used to own a Wavesequencer SR Rack, and couldn't stand how hard it was to program the darn thing, so I sold it. I also had tons of other stuff that was just too hard to program, and even those would crash from time to time. One day my TS10 just rebooted and I lost an entire song. After all, Workstations are small computers. The new Synth should be something I could use on my own songs, that could create pretty much any sound I would need. Just like a Workstation would. It had to be fast, stable and with a high sound quality. And I would start to use it right away, to find flaws, and see how I could improve it.

It was the start of a new era for me. I was going to build the largest project ever. But I had no fear - it was just something I had to do.

At the start I had nothing, only a dream an idea. I had just left Dash Signature, and had no other job. I started talking with a few friends about my idea, and if they would help me out financing the project. To my surprise, I got tons of requests and a lot of support. I can't thank those users enough. And it didn't stop there. My Wife also told me that she could handle the skin-design and help me organize everything. Other friends also offered help and support in other areas. If was starting to look good.

A

t first, several users told me to keep prices high, but I just couldn't do that. It was not in me. It had to be something fair, to pay for my time, but also fair to the users. Some would think I was nuts, but I didn't care about that. The world was changing: more and more people will realize that software doesn't have to be expensive.

The project was officially announced to the public on June 21st, 2004. The first public BETA was out on August 5th, 2004. And it was officially released on August 27th, 2004.

E

leven months later, on July 19th, 2005, we released the official Version 2.0.0.

A total of 83 new MultiSampled SoundSets (70 meg) and a total of 165 presets

We had our share of problems with piracy and other things, but we survived during this time.

We also had our share of mistakes, but always made good with the public. Explaining everything in detail. MoniKe, my Wife, had to leave the team to do something else. But several new users came up for the rescue, taking care of several things.

Ten

months later, we were almost ready with the third version. And on top of that, we released this magazine project, with the big help from Mike / Karmacomposer and all the users that are contributing to our work.

The future of Wusik looks solid, thanks to the community of users that support our work.

WilliamK

"... 2 thumbs up. They do exactly what WK says.

They load quickly, add very little stress on the CPU and best of all they sound great.

They sound great by themselves, but I've found that they also work well as a starting point.

I play keyboard bass a lot and I can add any of several nice basses to the left hand.

Or just stack a few of these guys up and make a REALLY nice layer that still has very little stress to the CPU. There are several presets that are the fast/slow attack of the same timbre, those can sound pretty cool when they're stacked..."

by Bamim2 at KVR

www.wusik.com Wusik Sound Magazine

7

TT ii pp ss

&TT rr ii cc kk ss F

r

One of my tricks I like to do on any synth with good modulation possibilities is to create a separate independent modulation sound which for a better term I call the space bubble sound, or bubbles for short. If you listen to Ozric Tentacles, you know what I mean!

The trick to do this in WS is the mod matrix.

First,

select a simple sine wave as your oscillator source ( say on osc 2). Sure it can work with any sound sample, but I tend to use a pure sine wave.

N

ext, go to the mod matrix, and have LFO2( or whatever LFO is available) with a destination to Osc 2 pitch. Give it a 40 for depth.

Have the rate of lfo2 to half way, or pretty fast. A square or Sawtooth waveform is good for this trick.

Then assign an open mod envelope to the same destination(Osc 2 pitch) with a depth of 40 or so. Basically when you press a key, it will make the lfo modulation go up or down in picth according to how you set the attack on the envelope. Try the attack all the way up, with sustain all the way down.

A

nother trick to make it even more interesting is to take another lfo with a very slow rate, and have as it’s destination to the original Lfo’s Rate! Upon depressing a key, You will hear the the pitch go up, while the speed of the lfo bubbles go slow then faster as you release the key. Adding an echo effect will make it more pronounced. I first learned how to do this in my original Crystal patches, but its easy to do in WS.

8

Wusik Sound Magazine

m

T

3

ToTc:

Tim Conrardy: Creating Space Bubbles

o

Creating W I D E Stereo-Spread

S

ounds in Wusikstation Part I of II: Since I worked on the SoundCell 3 set for Nucleus Soundlabs, I’ve been on this ‘kick’ to make all of my presets monstrous in terms of their presence in the stereo field. I often have to keep my temptation at bay, as such dominating sounds don’t always fit into a mix easily. However, there are plenty of sound categories where this effect can make all the difference…Atmospheric sounds are a great example. I’m surprised I don’t see it done more often actually….as it’s very simple to achieve.

T

he easiest way to demonstrate this method, is through a patch of my own….so I’ve included a small set that will take us through the steps I use to make a sound W I D E.

First,

obviously, open up an instance of Wusikstation in your VST host of choice. From there, make sure you are on an initialized preset (I have provided one just in case you don’t have one).

By default, in the initialized patch I’ve supplied, the “Pure Sine” wave will be loaded into the first oscillator slot.

N

ow, there are 2 main methods I use to get this effect: you can either use both of them in combination, or individually. Either way, they work well.

METHOD 1: The Panning + Tuning Method: The first approach is to load 2 identical oscillator waveforms into the first 2 (for our purposes) oscillator slots. For the demonstration patch, I’ve chosen the “Arp Pad1” sound from the Famous Keys 1 set, as every Wusikstation owner should have that one.

TT ii pp ss Now that we have our two oscillators loaded, the next step is to hard pan each oscillator in opposite directions. So, set the pan on oscillator 1 to hard left, and the pan on oscillator 2 to hard right. You shouldn’t hear too much of a difference at all between the sounds being panned completely opposite each other, or completely centered. This is due to the fact that the two sounds are exactly the same.

Panning them opposite each other will still result in a centered sound, as there are no differences for your ears to pick up independently that would give the sound width. That is why the next step comes into play, tuning.

As I mentioned before, we want a slightly different sound in each channel, not completely different, just enough for your ears to register them as separated. Leave the tuning on oscillator 1 alone, and turn oscillator two’s fine tuning knob to a setting of + or – 4. This will keep the oscillators from detuning too much and creating a thin phasing sound, but will be enough to separate them for your ears.

It’s as simple as that; three quick and easy steps. If you’re more of a visual learner, reference this with the “Method1-step1, Method1-step2, and Method1-step3” presets.

METHOD 2: PANNING AND EQ: The second way to get just enough difference in each channel to create a wide sound, is to simultaneously use hard panning, and slightly different EQ settings. As I did for Method 1, I’ve provided presets to guide you through this lesson.

Again, start with the included “Initial” preset. Now, as we did in Method 1, load the same waveform into oscillator slots 1 and 2 (In the example, I’ve chosen the “Arps17” sound, again from the Famous Keys 1 set).

Next, set oscillator 1’s pan to hard left, and oscillator 2’s pan to hard right. Again, we hear the sound fall back into the center where it started.

Step 3 is where the EQ starts to come in…

Switch back to oscillator 1’s control page. Activate oscillator 1’s “2” and “3” EQ bands by clicking on each to light the LED. Since we have a lush sound here, we want to give it both power and presence, so in the “2” EQ band set: * BFREQ to 22, and * BOOST to 104.

&TT rr ii cc kk ss

Move over to oscillator band “3”, and set: * BFREQ to 54 and * BOOST to 127.

Moving on, switch over to oscillator 2’s control page and, again, activate it’s EQ’s “2” and “3” bands. Set band 2’s: * BFREQ to 24, and * BOOST to 104.

Move on to band “3” and set * BFREQ to 40, and * BOOST to 113.

Now, play a few notes on your keyboard.

You’ll notice that there is just enough difference to keep the sound mostly centered, but give a distinct presence to each channel. You’ll also notice a significant volume increase for the entire patch, this is easily rectified by lowering Wusikstation’s master volume setting.

These are basic, but effective ways of creating wider spacing in your sounds, without losing too much depth, if losing any at all. Of course, using Methods 1 and 2 in conjunction with each other, will produce a more dramatic effect.

As the title of this article states, this is only Part 1 of a 2 part series. Next month, I’ll be providing two more methods to create wider stereo spacing in your presets by using the filters and the delay effect built into Wusikstation.

Teksonik: A Tip on Inspiration:

N

ot a technical tip but I try to “Play” the synth as if the patch I am creating is a song or a piece of music unto itself. Let it flow and don’t be too concerned with technical matters. Just feel, experiment, draw upon your knowledge and experience but try something new. In that way your knowledge will expand. Don’t be concerned if you start out to make a bass patch but end up with an evolving soundscape. If a patch is musically inspiring either to yourself or to others then it is a success.

Wusik Sound Magazine

9

From the Forum

by Mike Felker

In this new series, we are going to focus on a few forum posts that were either asked or answered during the current month of this issue - and that we feel will help all of our readers who may have missed them or let time fly by.

Grymmjack: How does WS handle presets/soundsets/etc on disk?

Ok,

so I’m a bit confused at the folder hierarchy of WS presets/soundsets.

I installed WS2 then CM Wusik, now WS3 so this could be part of the problem. And TSW requires yet another copy of WS to be installed (I did this and then converted the banks to presets) but the TSW install still overwrote files that WS2 had installed — harmless I suppose since the files were identical, but still weird. TSW installer I pointed at c:\vst\instruments\samplers\TSW VSTi, but it must have read some setting in the registry because it stored its sounds in: c:\vst\instruments\samplers\WusikStationDATA directory .. The same thing happened with the CM Wusik install process, so..

Anyway

now the presets and soundsets directories are kind of chaotic/confusing and on occasion wusikstation 3 cant find some sounds and asks me to use others it thinks might be the missing sounds but aren’t. When I answer no, it eventually finds the right sound and its weird to me and because of the confusion I don’t know wtf is going on and how to fix this stuff.

So the best I can understand is stuff goes in / presets/wusikstation/yoursoundset/ *.WusikPRST and/soundsets/wusikstation/yoursoundset/*.Wusik SND Doing it this way, the presets seem to find their snd counterparts much better. Dunno why.

So how /are/ the sounds supposed to be stored, and what steps can I take to make those boxes stop coming up asking to substitute sounds?

10

Wusik Sound Magazine

Additionally, does the PRST format specify relative paths to the wusikstation root or relative to itself or absolute from a registry value or what? This would be great info for WSM #1

I would like a final authoritive answer before I get myself into more trouble. Should I uninstall and reinstall everything? I can’t use WS2 anymore it complains about incompat. INI file, but I can run v1 and v3 okay... Kinda wanted to be able to run them all in separate ways for skinning tests, etc.

Karmacomposer: #1 - Wusik is wusik and TSW pro is based on the wusik format, but is it’s own vsti (called TSW) and is based ONLY on the V1 wusik - so you will have to convert all BNK files to V2 and V3 WusikPRST files (will work for V2 and V3 once converted). #2 - as far as the directory structure, Wusik V2 and above auto searches for samples in presets, so here is what I did and maybe you could follow suit (understand there is no right or wrong, but to make things organized for your own sanity, it may be advised to do the following): By

the way, X = default drive letter your vsti collection is on (for example, X= c:\program files\steinberg\vstplugins)

So, x:\Wusik.com\ -OR- x:\Wusik\ within the x:\Wusik\ directory, you could then have the following: \Famous Keys Plus 2 \Famous Keys Plus 3 \Manystation \TSW \TSW data \Vox’d \Vox’d data

From the Forum \Wusikstation Data

\Wusik.com\Wusikstation Pro\

Data\Presets\TSW

Wusikstation.dll <— the most current wusikstation vsti

\Wusik.com\Wusikstation Data\Presets\Vox’d\

Wusikstation Multi-Out.dll <— the most current Wusikstation Multi Out vsti

\Wusik.com\Wusikstation Data\Presets\Manystation\

The above shows that you own the sound sets, Famous Keys Plus 2 and 3, Manystation, TSW Pro, Vox’d and Wusik.

Try not to have any other versions of Wusik or Wusik Multi-Out dll’s here - place any older versions, for example, on c:\wusik backup or something like that - away from the registered vsti directory.

etc.

Wusik WILL find the WusikSND files for presets the first time you load in the preset and then thereafter, as long as you don’t move them, Wusik won’t have to search again.

Organize

in all the folders I mentioned

above.

However: All data should go into the \Wusikstation Data folder and not the others.

Now, The \Wusikstation Data folder should contain something like the following: \Banks <— for V1 Wusik - your BNK presets are in here \Effects \FX Banks \Presets <— for V2 and V3 Wusik - these are your WusikPRST files

Use the BNK converter to convert to WusikPRST for V2 and V3 Wusik Engine presets.

If you don’t know how, I will more than likely make that a focus in the 1st issue of WSM ezine anyway. I may include what I just typed here as well (and make it more visual) I hope this helps.

Grymmjack: Mike, thanks, yeah it helps. I have some housecleaning to do.

\Preset Effects

Dancer: Karmacomposer:

\Skins <— place all skins for Wusik in here

Your previous post was very helpful.

\Soundsets <— for all Wusik related WusikSND files - this includes TSW Pro, Vox’d, DBU, Manysatation, Soundcell and ALL other soundsets manufacturers - they all go here \Tool Tips \TUN Files \Wseq Files

You CAN and should organize further in the \banks, \presets, \skins and \SoundSets folders For example:

However: Like Grymmjack, my folder structure continues to get more and more screwed up. So I’m going to use Windows to remove WusikStation, etc. and reinstall the entire group of programs (WS, TSW, TSW Pro, Vox’d, Enigma Engine, etc.)

So what sequence of installation should follows. E.g., WS1 - WS2 - TSW - TSW Pro - Vox’d - WS 3?

I’ve got zip files from BITR and others and I’m not sure where to put things when I install, to Wusik Sound Magazine

11

From the Forum get them into the correct subfolders.

Pwal: I just did this, like this: 1. install ws2 + updates 1a. move the “Wusikstation Data” folder to wherever you keep your sample libraries

1b. load ws so it asks for the new “Wusikstation Data” folder location

2. install just the data parts of all the other instruments, pointing to the “Wusikstation Data” folder if necessary. There are no, um, 2 rules: (1) presets (WusikPRST files) go under “\Wusikstation Data\Presets\” folder - use subflders to organise; and (2) samples (WusikSND files) go under “\Wusikstation Data\Soundsets\” - again, use subfolders to organise

Any

old-fashioned BNK files should be converted to the more en vogue WusikPRST format using a tool.

Get v2 in order before doing v3 (which needs one of the earlier betas to set up folders & stuff before betas 100 & 20x, i forget which)

Pwal: q/a: open

ws, as in: open/insert it in your sequencer - it will miss the data folder and ask where it’s gone. once you browse to it, it updates its settings to the new location you should install w3 at your own discretion, as it is still a beta and overwrites v2.

Pwal: Thanks, Pwal ===============================

Pgvpgv333: When I start cubase se3 and I have installed wusikstation off course, I get the following “locate wusikstation CM’s configuration file” and I cant find it. So wusikistation wont work.

Thankful for any help. Oh, it’s v1 that I have.

WilliamK: Please, install

it again, and be sure that if you move the DLL File, you also move the INI file that it is trying to locate. Or just run a search on your computer for Wusikstation*.ini Best Regards, WilliamK

Dance: Just so I’m clear: Install WS2 + updates

Pgvpgv333: I cant find any Wusikstation*.ini ?

Move

WilliamK: Did you re-install

“Wusikstation Data” to my library

location (L)

Q: Open(?) WS - it will ask for the new location? I’ve not seen this come up before?

it? Did you moved any files after installing? The actual file should be “Wusikstation CM.ini”

Pgvpgv333: I move the dll file to where all vsti files are

Open the various zip files, move the contents to the appropriate folders, e.g., Presets, SoundSets etc. Any bank files should be converted (by the conversion program included with WS2?).

in cubase. Could not find the Wusikstation CM.ini.

Then, should I not even install W3 until the

to re-install it, so it will add the ini file back again.

final version is out?

Thanks.

WilliamK: You have to move both dll and ini files. Try Pgvpgv333: Ok, now everything is working. Thanks. ===============================

12

Wusik Sound Magazine

From the Forum Multiple outs?

mdortona: Hello!

I am very seriously considering purchasing Wusikstation, but need to know whether or not it has multiple/multi-channel outputs. I plan to use it under Sonar 5, using a Roland GR-20 to trigger it.

THanks in advance!

WilliamK: Yes, it has a Multi-Out version, but it works like this: It has 3 Stereo outputs. One is all Layers DRY signal, the second is all layers FX1 Send, the third is FX2 Send. This way you can use the internal mixer, and just set 2 external FX sends.

We

do not provide single layer outputs, sorry if that’s what you are looking for.

Best Regards, WilliamK

mdortona: Thanks for

replying so quickly William!

Since there are 3 stereo outs, I’m assuming that each pair of outs can be routed to separate outs on my Delta 1010 card, correct? Thanks again!

WilliamK: That depends

on the host that you are using. On most hosts you can do that. ===============================

Feature Request: Global Effects On/Off selection

Oliver.Lucas: Hi William, here’s a slightly unusual feature request for my beloved Wusikstation.

Could you make a global on/off only for the delay effect?

So I have my effects turned off although I would offten want to have them available...

WilliamK: There IS already

such option. Check the Configuration page. (click on the W logo) Select ENABLE FX to OFF/NO and click on SET DEFAULTS. This will make any new instance to have the effects turned off. If you do a song where you turned it ON, it will not affect songs, only new instances.

Best Regards, WilliamK

Oliver.Lucas: Yes, I know, but I meeant ONLY delay. I like the effects, only the delay gets in the way.

Improv: Click on the Edit button over the FX1 and FX2 knobs. In the fx edit panel on the left, click on the panel beside FX1 (or FX2). When the file browser comes up, choose Bypass.

WilliamK: Here’s another

solution, copy the file Bypass over the Delay file. Its located under “DATA\Effects\...” This way you would never be able to use the delay. But you could make a copy of the file before replacing it, anyway. That’s the only way. ===============================

Noobie Question

luxth: Hi, probably

very basic question, but actually I dunno how to read bank files in Wusikstation. I mean i purchased Famous Keys + 1 and digione that comes with presets packed into banks. I’m actually able just to open presets that are under the “presets” folder, while my TSW can see all banks, included the ones mentioned above. I would like to use just the Wusikstation as my presets/banks browser.

Why would I want this?

Any help is appreciated.

While

Karmacomposer: luxth, bnk files are for Wusikstation V1 only.

I really like presets with effects, I really think that many sound designers out threre use too much delay. Often evereything in a patch is soaked in delay and the sounds just become so unuable in a track.

WusikPRST files are preset files for V2 and V3 of Wusikstation.

Wusik Sound Magazine

13

From the Forum So, first, do you have V1, V2 or V3? If you have V1, you must use the presets in the / Banks folder and not the /Presets folder. Unfortunately, there is no backward compatibility with WusikPRST presets - you cannot use them in V1.

The

following help is technical, so if you do not understand dos or windows path conventions and useage, you may get a bit lost. Just speak up if you do and I will write a small tutorial on how to use Windows and Dos paths and such.

If

you have V2 or V3 and want to take advantage of the presets in the /Banks folder, then you will have to convert any .bnk files to the WusikPRST file format via the free and supplied .bnk converter tool located in your / Wusikstation Data/Banks folder (or available on www..wusik.com for free download).

To use it, place all your .bnk files in the same folder as the dos tool WusikPRST Converter (located in /Wusikstation Data/Banks) Now,

double click on convert.bat (will just say CONVERT). A DOS box will pop up and get busy. Then you will be asked to press any key - so press any key. You will now have both the original .bnk files and new folders named after the original .bnk files. I would back up these .bnk files (I just made a folder called / Bank_Backup and put them in there). Now move the folder(s) to your /preset folder under /Wusikstation Data/Presets and you are good to go!!!

Broaden your sonic palette.

Try our soundsets for the Wusikstation.

The Prepared Rhodes, unique electro-acoustic percussive sounds from a real Rhodes Mk 1.

The Marching Band Horn (3 volumes), add a brassy flavor to your songs.

The IYTTIW modified trumpet sample set, 41 waveforms of processed staccato trumpet.

Electronic Drums/Percussions kits, 161 original percussion samples.

From Jazz singer Julie Hamelin

luxth: Thanks

Julie Vocal FX vol.1, a collection of one-shot female vocal FX and scats.

Julie Scats Collection, female jazz scat singing one-shot samples.

Mike for taking the time to write such detailed help. It worked great, I converted flawlessy banks into W2 presets.

Thanks a lot. ===============================

Visit

our Products Page for details, dowloadable demo soundsets and MP3s. http://www.lesproductionszvon.com

14

Wusik Sound Magazine

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation It’s great to use Wusikstation with all of it’s amazing posibilities. It’s even better when you begin using 3rd party sample sets, or freebie ones you share with others. At some point, however, you must think to yourself “How do these people do it? I wish I could make samples and presets like that!”

W

ell, this article will NOT show you how to create a sample. We will reserve that for another issue.

What you WILL do in this tutorial is to create a Baby Grand Piano complete with modulation control and a foot pedal to act as a damper pedal. But we’re going to change our piano a bit and add a string and brass section with two separate keyzones, for a total of three samples, creating a multi-layered preset that is also velocity sensitive!

T

hink this will be hard? Guess again.

It’s going to be so easy, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish quickly and effortlessly with Wusik.

When we are done with this article, I want you to start making your own presets on your own with any samples you can find. It’s easy and I’m going to show you how.

by Mike Felker

The location of certain different in different skins.

areas

are

O

kay. Let’s get started.

First, open Wusik in your favorite host. If you do not have one, I have found a really nice FREE piece of software that works very well for preset design: http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm

V

ST Host is a freeware program that allows you to host any VST and is very small and quick. Also, the same author made an even smaller version that I used to make these screenshots: http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm

Savi Host is much better in that it allows you to run your vst instrument as a stand alone - NICE!

F

irst, open Wusik and click on "INIT" (yellow box):

O

ne thing to note: The graphics I am going to use for this tutorial will be small.

Not to worry. We are including the fullsize screen shots along with this magazine that are 100% readable. The smaller screen shots in this article are more for reference. Also note that every single picture is numbered and the titles tell the story - so you should not have a problem following along.

Lastly, the multimedia edition will have the full size images built in, so if it is very hard to follow here, switch over to the multimedia version instead. One last thing - everything we are doing is for Wusik V2. If you want to follow along with V1, you can with the EXCEPTION of the preset browser. Everything else works.

Wusik Sound Magazine

15

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

T

his brings up the preset browser. You will get VERY familiar with this quickly:

N

ow that we have the INIT preset loaded in, we are going to load a sample.

Left-click the area with a yellow box around it to open the sample browser (which looks strangely close to the preset browser).

Let’s go over the preset browser briefly.

The left shows the list in the current directory.

Click on the top most entry to go back to the parent directory until you cannot go back any further. Clicking on the folder opens that folder and then any WusikPRST files (presets) will show up in the right hand window. Both windows have a scroll bar if the list of files, folder and presets goes beyond the bottom of the browser.

On the bottom of the preset browser, the OPTIONS button allows you to save presets and favorites and use the brand new preset search feature (V3 only). The DESTINATION option allows you to send the loaded preset to a particular area supported in Wusik. The FILE TYPE button lets you define what you are loading. It’s not just for presets. Try each of them to see what they do and the choices they offer. In future tutorials, we will go over these things in more detail. The upper right shows a red ‘X’ and pressing this closes the preset browser.

Wherever

you installed Wusik Sound Magazine ElektroWusik edition #2, please locate it amongst your Wusik soundsets and choose the JenniesPiano.WusikSND file located in the ToTc folder. Note that OSC 1 is lit - that is the location we are going to STORE our sample.

C

hoosing the INIT preset (may be in a different place on your computer) gives us a blank slate to start with. Left-click on the INIT preset (the one with a yellow box around it in the right hand window). Now that we have a preset loaded in, we have to fill it with some samples.

Wusik accepts two types of samples. You can use MONO .wav files at either 16 or 24 bits or Wusik’s proprietary WusikSND format, which William himself shows you how to do elsewhere in this issue.

We are going to create a Baby Grand Piano using a WusikSND file donated to Wusik Sound Magazine by ToTc and his company, www.Pro-Sounds.net 16

Wusik Sound Magazine

N

ote that we now have JenniesPiano loaded into OSC 1. Also, the sample we are editing shows up in the upper right hand corner - so you know what you are working on. The Oscillator (O1) we are working on lights up in blue (in this skin) and is shown by a yellow box in the upper left corner.

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

N

ow we are going to adjust the velocity sensitivty of the Piano. Locate the knob in yellow (it says VEL on it) and rotate it all the way CLOCKWISE - that makes the JenniesPiano sample 100% velocity sensitive.

Choose

REVERBER and choose LITE

VERB.

Click here and choose the HALL reverb type. This will allow a nice large symphony hall type sound.

Y

ou can adjust this to allow for less or more sensitivity. A value of â&#x20AC;&#x153;0â&#x20AC;? makes the sample not sensitive to velocity at all. The yellow box at the bottom middle of the screen is the VALUE area.

You need to look here as you turn and manipulate things - it will show numerically what you are doing. This is important because sometimes you need to be precise.

In the illustration below, the yellow box shows the FX buttons. We are now going to load a reverb effect and a delay effect. Press the left EDIT button first and follow the illustrations: Wusik Sound Magazine

17

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

W

e now have a HALL reverb type loaded in. There are other types of reverb, but for this tutorial we are only going to use the HALL type and we are not going to mess with any controls.

Doing so will change the various parameters of the reverb, such as room size, dampening, etc.

W

e now have a stereo delay with a short echo. Leave the defaults the way they are as they are quite good for this preset. Messing with the parameters will change the timing, feedback, filter amount, modulation frequency and amount, the wideness and tuning (yellow box).

N

ow we are going to use the highlighted dial to choose HOW MUCH hall reverb we want. Notice that I also highlighted the value area to show you that we only want a small amount of Hall Reverb (10) for this Oscillator channel (there are 4 Oscillator channels and 2 Wave Sequencer channels).

N

ow turn the highlighted dial clockwise until you reach +12 - we only need a little bit of delay to create a nice â&#x20AC;&#x153;feelâ&#x20AC;? to the sound.

P

ress the second EDIT button (to the right of the one we just worked on) and choose Delay-Echo on the left and STEREO ECHO on the right.

18

Wusik Sound Magazine

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

N

ow click on the MASTER button to bring up the mixer. We are going to raise the overall volume a little since I find most Wusik sounds tend to be a bit soft. Rotate it clockwise till it hits 100.

Click

N

ow we are going to do something cool.

In green above is the MODULATION MATRIX. We are going to use this to make our pedal and mod wheel changes. Left-click the area in red above.

Choose

MIDI IN and then CC1 MOD WHEEL (previous illustration). Now click to the right of that and choose FX PARAMS and then ROOM SIZE.

the area in yellow and click and drag up or down to change the value. We’ll make the minimum value 20 (drag up) so that it does not go completely without effect. What this effect does is to allow you to move the Mod Wheel and “Dial In” the amount of reverb - a very nice effect.

Now we are going to do the exact same thing as before with the Mod Wheel. Go one grid space down and click on the left most grid square first and choose MIDI IN and then CC 4 FOOT PEDAL.

Wusik Sound Magazine

19

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

N

ow RIGHT-CLICK highlighted to SAVE the preset.

on

the

area

L

ike before, choose the next grid square and choose FX PARAMS and then ROOM DAMP.

C

hoose a name and save it (to the Elektrowusik folder or a folder of your choice). I called it MyPianio.WusikPRST (make sure to add the .WusikPRST to the name - Wusik is picky about this). Congratulations! You have finished making a Baby Grand Piano complete with Damper Pedal and a Mod Wheel Reverb! Take a break and play, but not too long, we have much more to get done.

T

he MIN VALUE should be 10 - I wanted more nuance for the pedal, so we’ll make it a lower MIN value. The MAX value is the MOST effect the item will have and the AMT value is if you want the parameter to already do something from the start.

Break’s

over!

Assuming you closed everything down to take your break, it’s now time to reload the preset we made before. I called mine MyPiano.WusikPRST. Load up Wusik, it’s time to get started!

20

Wusik Sound Magazine

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

N

avigate to the ElektroWusik folder and search for ViaLynn.WusikSND (not pictured).

I

f you remember back to the first time we started this tutorial, let’s reload the Piano preset.

Click on the area in GREEN and then choose your Piano preset.

Now click on Oscillator 3 (O3) because we are going to load a third sound in (make sure it is lit up - signifying that it is “turned on”). Click the yellow box to the right to load up the sample browser again. See how easy this is!

We’re

going to load in some new samples and do some really cool things. Click on Oscillator 2 (O2) and make sure the light turns on.

If it is dark, keep clicking it till it goes on - it’s like an on/off switch. Clicck the area highlighted in green to bring up the sample browser.

Wusik Sound Magazine

21

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

T

his time we are looking SweetBrassStack.WusikSND (in yellow).

for

C

lick on O2 to make Oscillator 2 active.

Raise the release (REL) slider to +52.

I

n this set of steps we are going to work with the envelopes.

ADSR stands for ATTACK (ATT), DECAY (DEC), SUSTAIN (SUS) and RELEASE (REL). We are going to alter the ATTACK and RELEASE to make the sample a little softer upon initial key press and then fade slowly after you are done pressing the key. Click on O2 to make Oscillator 2 active. Raise the attack (ATT) slider to +45.

C

lick on O3 to make Oscillator 3 active.

Raise the release (REL) slider to +55. Again, the reason we are putting this a little higher than Oscillator 2 is because we want a more layered feel.

Click on O3 to make Oscillator 3 active.

Raise the attack (ATT) slider to +50. The reason we are putting this a little higher than Oscillator 2 is because we want a more layered feel which sounds better as you will hear.

22

Wusik Sound Magazine

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

N

ow we are going to create key zones.

These are areas where we can section the samples to play in certain octaves. Click on O2 once again to make Oscillator 2 active. See the highlighted box in the middle of the screen. That’s the keyzone HIGH box. The HIGH option relates to how high up the keyboard a sample will sound. Set this to 71 by clicking and dragging down the number itself (from 127 to 71). 71 relates to the octave below middle ‘C’.

C

lick on O3 to make Oscillator 3 active.

Turn the COARSE TUNING dial clockwise to +12 to match the Strings.

The

LOW option relates to how low on the keyboard a sample will sound. Click on O3 to make it active. But we are going to set the HIGH value again to 71 for Oscillator 3 (from 127 down to 71).

C

N

ow we are going to change the pitch.

Press O2 again to make Oscillator 2 active. The highlighted circle below is the COARSE TUNING dial. Turn it clockwise to +12 to raise O2 by one octave.

lick the MASTER button for the mixer.

The two highlighted circles are PANNING DIALS. Turn the PANNING DIAL for O2 (Oscillator 2) all the way to the LEFT (this is called HARD LEFT) and turn the PANNING DIAL for O3 (Oscillator 3) all the way to the RIGHT (this is called HARD RIGHT). This gives us a very WIDE sound! Feel free to also mess with the volume sliders (in green) till you mix the “sound” the way you wish. This tends to be very personal - so any way is the right way.

Wusik Sound Magazine

23

How to Create a Preset in Wusikstation

Sound Magazine

C

all your new preset Piano_Section.WusikPRST. Viola! A new preset is born. Well, you have come a long way since many pages ago.

Although this was just a quick overview, we covered many areas of preset creation, but not all. You now have the basic knowledge to create your very own presets!

R

IGHT CLICK on the OPTIONS area (highlighted in yellow) and choose SAVE PRESET.

Advertise on our magazine.

Check our prices and options on the following link:

www.Advertise.Wusik.com

24

Wusik Sound Magazine

: s a e d I t e s e r lk P a t t o s r H e n g i s e e D n i e r g o n m E k i s u W t t u ou b bo a a

ou can rarely learn more than you will from hearing experts discuss how they pursue their craft. Artists, sculptors, accountants, carpenters, porn stars…they’ve all got it figured out better than us. Following up on my feature in WSM #1, here are some more notable Wusikstation sound designers’ thoughts about the process… along with around-up of developments in the Wusikengine - compatible arena. rank Genus, known widely as ToTC Productions comments: “The most exciting features of Wusikstation to me, other than the wavesequencer of course, are those that let me achieve massive sounds: the independent envelopes, filters, pan, etc, on each oscillator layer. This enables the user to create sounds that just swallow everything in the stereo field. The modulation options are endless, as you know, and give an insane amount of control over the synth. As a designer, this allows me to make my sounds extremely dynamic. I can add a very light low-pass filter that follows velocity, keyboard tracking of the filters, amplitude, etc.

The ability to modulate the filters with the oscillators also creates Casio CZ-like phase modulation sounds.”

is work is found in several addons, and he notes: “I’d have to say that my last two Wusikstation ‘outings’ are my absolute best work yet. I’m speaking of the sets I did for Nucleus Sound Labs – the Soundcell 3 and Oberheim Resurrection sound sets. For the Soundcell 3 presets, I wanted to refine my style. I’d learned a lot and wanted to show it in my sound programming. I decided that my Soundcell 3 presets would have to be huge. I started panning each layer drastically in the stereo field.

by Funky Chicken Dance

or SND files that didn’t have a stereo counterpart, I made small changes between the fine tuning settings of each, to increase the ‘stereo’ effect. I also started layering sounds up as much as I could; made use of the 4 oscillator slots quite often to make the sounds louder and more powerful.

The EQ was a big discovery for me too. I’d never used it much on Wusikstation, and I have to say that it’s made a dramatic difference in the ‘impact’ of the sounds. My Oberheim Resurrection presets are a continuation of this practice. All of them are loud and wide, yet not overpowering...” rank thinks we’re only just beginning, as far as WS developments go. “I’ve made close to 1500 presets on Wusikstation, for various projects, and I still find something new about it every time I use it!” For new users, he suggests: “Experimentation is the key. Hook modulation sources to destinations you never use, even if you don’t know what they do. You’ll find that Wusikstation has quite a few tricks up its sleeve.”

Incidentally, for months I’ve thought that ToTC Productions meant ‘top of the charts' , but it’s nothing so corny. After dropping some dough on him via Paypal, I discovered from the receipt that it’s 'trains of thoughts collide' a title Frank had originally registered for a sci-fi novel. t’s a rare commercial synth – or a rare major SE freebie – that doesn’t carry at least a few sounds designed by Tim Conrardy. His distinctive work graces all kinds of VST i synth, but is wellsuited to Wusikstation’s sample - based sounds.

When you start seeing a lot of astronomy in the preset names, or hearing ‘space sounds’ in pads or leads, chances are that TC is at work. He’s a partner in the T3 venture, has his own synth line (Algomusic), and also acts as a support liaison for Wusik Sound Magazine

25

Hot Preset Ideas Camel Audio. Incidentally, Wusikengine users who’ve not demoed Camel’s two Fx units, CamelSpace and CamelPhat, have missed a rare treat in the post-production sound-mangling realm… asked TC what he liked about sound designing on Wusikstation: “The fact that you can stack and layer samples in many unusual ways, with as many LFOS and Envelopes you can shake a stick at. The wave sequencer of course, the complex mod matrix, and have to say it: all the great skins!! My fave and default one is the stellar skin.” he skins? Well, it makes sense, no? If you’ve ever sat for hour after hour in front of a buttugly GUI, you can see where he’s coming from. The large set of highly creative WS skins certainly gives you a lot of variety.

s it moves through beta testing, adding new features, many in the WS community are watching v.3 carefully. I asked TC if he’d be crafting any presets particularly aimed at v.3’s extended feature set. “Well...I hope with v.3, there will be more adventures for sound designers; otherwise it would not be v.3. But you also have to think of all the v.1 and v.2 users. I think it would be good to make some v.3 specific sets to show off v.3 features, but continue to support v.1 and v.2 users, because of the larger user base.”

t’s difficult to point to TC’s best work: he’s ridiculously prolific. But I asked anyway, and he said: “Good question, as I have done so many: The Vox'd set TSW factory and TSW T3, and a good many (about 300) of the W2 factory sets which include FKplus1 and DigiOne. Plus Jeremy’s [NSL] sound sets (Soundcell 2 and 3, and Oberheim Resurrection), and also Manystation. . That was my first set I did, that I think was included in the factory package with presets such as PAD Deep nebula and PAD star cluster. I tend to go back to those, plus the Vox'd and Oberheim sets I am happy with as well. I tend to name my presets from my other passion which is astronomy, as I am an avid backyard observer, and hope to find a comet one day.”

’d been hoping to get some comments from Zvon about the way he builds his idiosyncratic 26

Wusik Sound Magazine

and startling soundsets, but it didn’t work out in time. Suspecting he wouldn’t have time to put together some fresh material to go with the excellent freebies in WSM#1, he offered the following advice on the Wusik forum. And it’s good advice in almost any context, not just with his sounds, provided the preset uses WS waveforms.

“Here’s a tip to easily increase the number of presets. Switch waveforms, take a preset that uses both horn and factory WS waveforms and switch the WS waveform for another one. Or switch the horn waveform for a WS one or vice-versa. Tweak the envelopes if necessary.

Do not forget to save the results that you like.”

A personal observation is that many presets don’t test the limits of WS, which isn’t unusual in sound design: owners of Rhino or Octopus are invited to check how much of their synth’s functionality is typically put to work. With four oscillators and two wave generators, you can quickly get into overkill territory and make a mushy sound. As the ElektroWusik collection is showing us, bright simple voices can sound very good on Wusikstation. And at the other end of the spectrum, several designers have demonstrated that Wusikstation will produce lush pads or long evolving sequences when challenged. ounding out the thoughts of the sound designers this month, I also talked with Marc Hoppe, known professionally as Teksonik, who has been all over the Wusikstation scene with his work since its launch. He points to another special merit as a unique selling point for designers, or aspiring designers: “The Wavesequencers, of course! You can get osc’s and filters any where but it’s the Wavesequencers that make WS unique. Having said that, Wusikstation would be an awesome synth even without them. The mod matrix, all the filters, effects, envelopes, sample playback, etc make it a very powerful machine.”

S v.3 is still in beta testing, but it’s not too soon to think about how we’ll all put the new toys to use. Marc says: “Wusikstation 3 will hopefully add enough features to make owning it a must, therefore decreasing the number of v.1 and v.2 owners and increasing the number who move up to v.3. The ‘per osc’ effects and Unison [feature] make it worth the upgrade price alone.” He adds: “The one thing I’d like to see is more Wavesequencers.”

Hot Preset Ideas

asked Marc the question that nobody has been able to answer definitively yet: what’s your personal favorite? “Wow, that’s a hard question. I don’t really have one favorite as WS is capable of so many different types of sounds. I guess ‘Inca Dreams’ would have to be one of my favorites as it always seems to take me to far away places.” t seems to me, as a mere user, that that secret of Wusikstation’s success rests on three related strengths: Ï% An innovative, evolving synth engine at a sane price Ï% The large user base that comes from correct pricing, and Ï% Designers’ natural propensity to work for larger audiences ouple that with the sense of community that characterizes the Wusik family in general, and it’s no surprise that’s it’s a winner; and getting better every month. I own a ridiculous number of VSTi synths, I confess. But I regularly reach for WS when I’m working. I’m also reassured by the fact that WilliamK seems to sleep about two hours a day, and spends the rest of his time working on making the product better. Customer support is exemplary, and no question is too silly (or too horrendously convoluted) for him not to answer quickly.

YET MORE NEW STUFF IN THE TOYBOX e saw last month how the family of WE- compatible presets and soundsets has grown in the past year. And it just keeps on coming…

Prodyon: The Berlin developer last month released a WS package called Dance Leads Vol.1 and followed up soon after, as promised, with Dance Basses It has 250 presets aimed at the same ears as ElektroWusik, and sells (like Dance Leads 1) for $ 16.95.

Mallory’s Enigma Engine Last month, I talked about the fat folders of interesting freebie presets that Mallory had produced using his own technique for jumbling and juggling existing WE- compatible material. After WSM#1 went into production, Wusik.com began carrying the Enigma Engine , his

commercial version of the tool. If you have a large collection of soundsets, but you still need more presets, then this is a tool you need to investigate.

It’s actually quite a bit more sophisticated than my quick description last month implied, and a $19.95 bargain I’m going to pick up pretty soon. ithout becoming pedantic or technical, the Enigma Engine is not a purely aleatoric (roll-of-the-dice) randomizer, but uses a family of eight algorithms, each with a particular sound family in mind. It’s not merely flexible, it’s quite controllable. For example, you can make presets for any generation of Wusikstation: v.1, v.2 or v.3. Many of the parameters affecting the algorithms’ performance can be tweaked to suit the user’s preferences and experience. he eight algorithms work to create presets with the following properties: subtle pad, regular pad, complex pad/synth, bass, drums/ perc, pianistic keys/synth, lead/synth, heavy complex synth/SFX. Obviously, you save what you like, and toss the rest after you run it. t’s compatible with Wusik.comprovided SoundSets, like Famous Keys (the WS default soundset), Famous Keys Plus 1, Digi One, , the HQ collections, etc., and also with TSW and Vox'd by BITR, Soundcell 1-3 and Oberheim Resurretion by Nucleus Soundlab, Ignition, Fuel and SonicScapes from Dangerous Bear Underground, and Zvon’s Prepared Rhodes, Marching Horns, etc.

oing forward, there’ll be compatibility with emerging soundsets, and all users will automatically qualify for updated version to include new soundset support at no extra charge.

he Enigma Engine software is built on Microsoft’s .NET Framework v1.1. o, we won’t need sound designers any more? Don’t bet on it! You can’t beat human ears, taste and judgment. But Enigma Engine is a budgetpriced way to come up with unique sounds for a project, ones no one else will have.

BU SonicScapes. John Gibson, with whom we spoke at length last month, has a new package of WE-ready material available. Called Wusik Sound Magazine

27

Hot Preset Ideas SonicScapes, the first part of the product was released in May. There’s a seemingly never-ending demand for soundscapes and pads and drones, and dBU has produced a very fine set here, which I personally recommend. [And before you ask: yes, I buy them with my own pocket money; even poor critics and reviewers need to contribute something useful to the economy.] Part One – there’ll be at least two – is in 6 volumes: Ambient Drones – dark, synthetic, abstract and textural; Transembles – processed layered acoustic sounds; Percussion Elements – a series of drum maps for wavesequencing; Infamous Keyz – assorted keyboard, instrument, and synth sounds; FMx – multisampled FM synthesis abstractions; and Analog Bass – sounds from the classic Korg MS 20 and Roland 303.

3’s TSW pair: Last month I skated right over a pair of new releases, not realizing what they were. (I’m going to blame it on confusing choices of names, but it could be senility). So, this month I make amends by introducing T3’s TSW package, two collections of presets that work off the BITR ‘The Second Wave’ package of WE-compatible soundsets. T3 is a cooperative venture by Frank Genus (ToTC), Tim Conrardy, and Marc Hoppe, aka Teksonic. If you step lively, the presets are available for a bargain $10 in a two-for-one deal on the new T3 website, through May 31. Otherwise they’re $10 apiece. As you’d expect with the casting, these are not run-of-the-mill presets, and they do great credit to the TSW sounds. f T3’s origins, Tim Conrardy says: “Basically it was a thread on the Wusik forum, and all three of us were on it, and then it was decided to do a bank together, and everybody said YEAH!!...So we decided to form T3 and we chose the TSW set for the first project. For the second project we were going to do a Rhino bank, but Marc (Teksonic) got too busy, but we got back together and did sounds for Maxx Claster’s new Toxic III synth.”

nd, giving me some belated justification for overlooking these banks last month, ToTC explains that it’s a kind of ‘my back pages’ gig: “TSW volumes 1 and 2 (the 2 T3 banks available for sale on our site), were made before the TSWExpansion and TSW-Pro package were in existence...so they only use the original TSW sounds.

28

Wusik Sound Magazine

o what is this older T3-TSW Expansion that I see in my Wusik presets folder?"

They are completely different presets than the ones in the T3-TSWExpansion banks. We made those for Klaus when he was putting the pro-package together [as part of a barter deal].” Are you more or less confused now?

SL Ambient Drums: Nucleus Sound Lab is striking out in a different direction with some percussion sounds and presets, under the name Ambient Drums. Initial plans suggested a release date of end-May. A WE-compatible package is planned, and the set is also to be available as WAV files, and with presets for DK+ and RM IV drum kits, among several others. Personally, I don’t do much drum programming from a keyboard – first I’m not a very good keyboard artist, and second, I constantly forget which keys I mapped to! – but lots of folks do, and this set, based on what you can hear in MP3 presets posted on KVR, has some rich and unusual sounds. anystation 2: Details are a little sketchy, and no firm release date has been set, but ManyTone Music is working on a v.2 of its Manystation product. Whether the soundsets will be expanded isn’t clear, but it’s quite likely. WS owners who also own Manystation will be pleased to know that v.2 switches to the Wusik v.2 engine, removing the need for a folder of converted presets when flitting between the two. bout: Behind the deliberately halfbaked name the funkychickendance lurks a ‘Sixties generation’ guitarist who has worked as an editor or writer for most of his life. Often too lazy to create his own presets, he’s grateful for the thousands already made by inspired designers. He runs on a Dell 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 270GB hard drive rig, shitty soundcard, MIDIsport 2x2 and a Fatar Studio 610 Plus, and has artvera’s new gold skin on his Wusikstation GUI. Unfashionably, he thinks ACID 6 Pro and FL Studio 6 Producer Edition are perfectly adequate hosts, most of the time. Based in a converted horse barn in rural Maine – really! – he’s working on an album, just like you…

William’s Method for Creating WusikSND Files The Batch Converter.

Before you start, be sure that all your WAV files are adequate. Each sound should start at the absolute Zero point, with a small Fade In. Like the picture bellow. If the sound doesn’t start at Zero, it will click on playback.

Unless is something you want. EG: Organ Sounds, Instant Attack Noisy Synths.

Be sure that all WAV files are in perfect tune, as it will be much harder to adjust it inside Wusikstation for every preset you create. Not to mention that users may have problems when doing they’re own presets when using off-tune sounds. You can use a great program like Muse Book Tuner 2.2 to do such thing. www.musebook.com/?page=mbtuner Now download the latest version of our Batch Converter software. http://www.wusik.com/products/wusikstation/do wnloads/WAV to WusikSND.exe If you are using Sony SoundForge, you can easly create LOOP sections by just selecting the portion of the sound you want to loop, and use the “Edit Sample” option

Wusik Sound Magazine

29

William's Method...

Create one folder where you will place all files for ONE Sound-Set, as its better to handle like that. Name the files like the list bellow.

SOUNDSET_NAME ROOT_KEY . WAV

Copy Rename.bat and WusikRename.exe to the directory. Edit Rename.bat to include the SOUNDSET_NAME information. Here we are using Anabells for the Sound-Set name.

Note that you can’t use SPACES or any other character, only Letters, don’t use Numbers.

You don’t have to worry too much about the name, you could allways use “Sound” if you want. As you can rename the final WusikSND file without problems.

30

Wusik Sound Magazine

William's Method...

Now run Rename.bat - as it will handle files and rename to the correct format. As seen on the picture to the right.

SOUND_NAME-AAA-BBB-CCC- DDD-EEE . WAV Where: AAA = Velocity Zone Start (000-127) BBB = Velocity Zone End (000-127) CCC = Key Zone Start (000-127) DDD = Key Zone End (000-127) EEE = Key Root (000-127)

What’s Included In the DVD / Download Continuing the theme ELEKTROWUSIK, we have plenty of sounds and presets to make your Techno, Dance and Trance tunes vibrate with these tasty samples. As a special treat, we also have a bevvy of acoustic instruments from around the world courtesy of Karmacomposer and a Santur and Baby Grand Piano courtesy of ToTc Productions. William and Karmacomposer have provided tons of analog and vocal samples, including some insane vocoder phrases and gospel choir sets!

List of SoundSets (203 SoundSets - 454 Meg)

By Karmacomposer and WilliamK: ElektroWusik/Hybrid - 35 files - 365 Meg ElektroWusik/LoFi Reaktor - 50 files - 11 Meg ElektroWusik/Vocals/ - 118 files - 78 Meg ElektroWusik Volume II Presets: 255 files.

Accoustic SoundSets - 47 files - 17 Meg Karmacomposer: Peruvian Shaker, Celtic Penny Whistle, Hohner Special 20 D, Hohner Special Pal C and Peruvian Pan Flute ToTc: Jennie Baby Grand Piano and Santur

Delete Rename.bat and WusikRename.exe just so you don’t double-run it, making a terrible mess with the file-names. Is also best to make a backup before you run the Rename.bat, as sometimes, if you make a mistake, the result is not good, and hard to fix.

Now copy WusikSND.exe and Convert.BAT, run Convert.bat, no need to edit it. It will create the Anabells.WusikSND file on our example above. Now you can rename the WusikSND file to whatever you want, its OK. One important thing: do not leave “empty” zones, as the WusikEngine doesn’t handle those very well. On our example above, all zones were filled.

Hope this Tutorial can help you out. As all our WusikSND conversions are done using this format, is much easier to fix files and re-compile sounds.

Autodafe DX7 pianos 20 files (Left and Right) 112 meg. 10 Presets

Considering each issue is packed with gigs of content, now you can get the Wusik Sound Magazine DVD delivered right to your mailbox every single month so you can spend more time playing and less time downloading!

$15

www.mfelkerco.com Wusik Sound Magazine

31

Frank Genus (aka ‘ToTc’) . . . is a preset designer/sample provider – About Frank: Frank Genus is a professional sound designer from New Jersey in the United States. He started offering freelance sound design in 2000, and has worked with the likes of ConcreteFX, Dash Signature, Cutter Music, Progress Audio, Kjaerhus Audio, Linplug, Cakewalk, and a long list of other developers. In October of 2003, Frank collaborated with friends Alex and Jake to form Pro-Sounds, a commercial sound design company. He has also collaborated with Tim Conrardy and Marc Houpe to form the group T3, which has released 2 banks for the TSW wusikstation soundset, and continues provide a range of free and commercial services via ToTc Productions and Pro-Sounds.

Contact information: ToTc Productions: www.totcproductions.com Pro-Sounds: www.pro-sounds.net

Funky Chicken Dance . . . is a relative neophyte in the VSTi world, but has made up for the delay. Contributing to the KVR forums under the half-baked name funkychickendance , he aspires to be polite and patient, or at least funny. He’s a ‘Sixties generation’ guitarist who has worked as an editor or writer for most of his life. Often too lazy to create his own presets, he’s grateful for the thousands already made by inspired designers. He runs on a Dell 3.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 270GB hard drive rig, and has artvera’s new gold skin on his Wusikstation GUI. Unfashionably, he thinks ACID 6 Pro and FL Studio 6 Producer Edition are perfectly adequate hosts.

Based in rural Maine, he’s working on an album, just like everyone else…oh, and he’d like to give a ‘shout out’ to all his bros on the forums who have contributed so much to his ongoing musical education.

Autodafe . . . started playing classical guitar at 12.

When he was 16 he joined its first band, in which he played guitar, singed and also played some keyboards. They got close to a record contact with a big italian "alternative" label, but then the band

broke up. He then devoted to keyboards and synths, and from 1997 (his first "serious" DAW) to date he played electronic instruments, softsynths and began collecting analog synths. His collection of old analog synths reached more than 50 units, and today still counts about 40. His latest project as a musician is www.wavewizards.com. He recently started creating patches and sample sets for various soft synths, as well as creating his own VST instruments and FXs, see www.autodafe.net. He currently works as a free-lance Technical Trainer for IT Companies.

Mike Felker (aka. Karmacomposer) Professional Composer / Production / Printing - Currently involved with the Wusik Sound Magazine, sampleset creation and preset design.

About me: Classically trained in piano starting at the age of 6, I continued my training throughout elementary, middle and high school. During my middle and high school years, I also played Trumpet in orchestra. At the age of 16, I helped my father in his Sir Speedy printing center where I learned to run printing presses and typography. It was during college that I really began composing on my own.

Starting with a Korg poly- 800 and then a Kawai K-1, I created music on my apple II+ and then purchased an atari TT computer using SPMTE Track sequencer. During college two of my instrumentals received air-play on a nationally syndicated radio show. After I graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelors in Sociology and a double-minor in English and Psychology, I worked with Eckerd Corporation, Price Waterhouse and many other firms all involving computers, multimedia, printing and newspaper and magazine layout. During this time, I was elected to the board of the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association (FMPTA) and the Southeastern Music Conference (SMC) and won a Crystal Reel Award for my 3D Animation Work in a television commercial.

I have been a member of ASCAP for the last 10 years. I have owned three companies before now, specializing in computers and printing and have instructed three other companies to successfully design and publish magazines of their own. Now, at 38 years of age, I own a recording studio and production company where I duplicate, print and Wusik Sound Magazine

32

package CDs and DVDs, among other things. My hardware of choice currently is a Korg Karma and a Technics KN7000. I have embraced the world of sampling and virtual instruments. Sonar 5 Producer is now my DAW of choice and I use literally hundreds of virtual instruments, of which Wusik is definitely my favorite GO-TO synth - I use it for everything. My most current achievement is a 4 year contract to create the music for a PC Game title that will have worldwide distribution. You can visit me on the web at http://www.mfelkerco.com

Marc

WilliamK: Coder, Synth and Preset Designer. Started programming at the age of 8. Learned several languages, most recently C++ and Assembler.

"Music has been on my life since forever. I got my first keyboard at the age of eight. After that I spent more and more time experimenting with all sorts of hardware - everything I could use from around the house. I tried Tape Dubbing and even computer sequencing using the printer output as a MIDI device. Over time as technology advanced, I got into "Tracker" programs, (the old FT2) advanced Synthesizers and Computer Programs."

Marc started as a guitar player more years ago than he cares to mention. He then saw a television special on the Fairlight sampler and was instantly hooked on synthesis. Under the instruction of locally famous sound designer Cosmo Watts, Marc started creatingpatches for the DX7 and went on to program several other hardware synths. When the vsti revolution began he found a re-newed love for sound design and well the rest is history.

The Last Word

Tim Conrardy Starting from a background of a successful Atari-MIDI resource (http://tamw.atari- users.net), Tim entered the sound design field by creating two acclaimed banks for Green Oaks Crystal. From there many offers from developers came in which includes sound design for Muse Research, Camel Audio's Cameleon 5000, Big Tick's Rhino, Antares Filterand Kantos, Dash Signature, Wusik Station, ConcreteFX, FL Studio Sytrus, and more. Tim has also founded his own company, Algomusic, which produces VST plugins (http://www.algomusic.nl) and is also support and sound designer for Camel Audio. (http://www.camelaudiio.com).

Tim continuesto be on the leading edge of sound design in the expanding field of softsynths. with a big italian "alternative" label, but then the band broke up. He then devoted to keyboards and synths, and from 1997 (his first "serious" DAW) to date he played electronic instruments, softsynths and began collecting analog synths. His collection of old analog synths reached more than 50 units, and today still counts about 40. His latest project as a musician is www.wavewizards.com. He recently started creating patches and sample sets for various soft synths, as well as creating his own VST instruments and FXs, see www.autodafe.net. He currently works as a free-lance Technical Trainer for IT Companies.

33

Wusik Sound Magazine

A

nother month is here, and another Wsm is- sue is out. We made it again, thanks to the help of everybody, and Mike for his incredible work. This time, he also took the job of sampling several new acoustic and synthesized instruments. Someone once told me, that the best tool is the one you know how to use. That's true. But sometimes, when you have limited tools, it does help if the tool you use gets upgraded and boosted up. Wusikstation V3 is almost out, and we accomplished something big with this update. Soon we will be adding the Disk-Stream option we just announced, opening a new door for future Wsm issues: The Giga Sets. And when I say Giga, I don't mean that other company program, but I mean, GigaBytes of samples. You will be able to load up your favorite 840 meg piano, while you have other instances of WS running along. Even if you only got 512 Meg of Memory. No more waiting MINUTES to load that 2 GigaByte Piano Set. Be prepared, by the 4th issue we do plan to start our own GigaSet Library. Every month, a new GigaByte Instrument.

WilliamK