Novation KS4 User Manual

Contents

PanningThe Panning effect dictates where in the stereo field a sound is placedwhen heard through stereo speakers or headphones. It is possible toposition a sound hard to the left, hard to the right or anywhere in between.The Effects LEVEL knob intoduces an amount of panning modulationwhich affects the location of the sound in the stereo field. When set fullycounter-clockwise, the sound will only be heard in the position set by themanual pan control in the first page of the panning menu.At the fully clockwise position, the sound will be move automatically fromthe left to the right-hand side at the rate determined by the panning ratecontrol found in the Panning Menu.VocoderA Vocoder is a device which analyzes selected frequencies present in anaudio signal (called a Modulator), and superimposes these frequenciesonto another sound (called the Carrier).It actually does this by feeding the Modulator signal into a bank of bandpass filters. Each of these filters (16 of them on the KS 4 / KS 5) covers aset band in the audio spectrum from low to high frequencies.In the KS 4 / KS 5’s Vocoder, a Program (for example a string sound) isalways used as the Carrier. It is routed to another complete set of 16 fil-ters which have the same frequency band settings as the bank of filtersused for the Modulator. Each of the outputs from the 16 band pass filtersin the Modulator bank control the volume of each of filters in the Carrierbank.The final character of the vocoded sound will depend greatly upon theharmonics present in the Carrier Program. Programs very rich in harmon-ics (for example using Sawtooth Waves) will generally give the bestresults.Typically, the Modulator signal used by a Vocoder would be a humanvoice speaking into a microphone. This creates the distinctive robot or‘talky’ like sounds which have recently returned to popularity and are nowbeing used more frequently in modern Pop and Dance music.Bear in mind however, that the Modulator signal need not be restricted tohuman speech. Other types of Modulator signal can be used (for exam-ple, an electric guitar or drums) and can often give quite unexpected andinteresting results.Modulator audio signals such as from a microphone or CD should alwaysbe fed into the KS 4 / KS 5’s AUDIO IN socket, located on the rear panel.The pitch of the final vocoded sound will depend on whatever pitch theCarrier (currently selected Program) is playing. Notes can either beplayed on the KS 4 / KS 5’s keyboard or received via MIDI from an exter-nal keyboard or sequencer. These notes must be played simultaneouslywhile the Modulator signal is present, otherwise the Vocoder effect will notappear to work.The Vocoder is activated and balanced by using the Effect LEVEL knob.When this knob is turned fully counter-clockwise, the Vocoder is disabled.As the knob is slowly turned clockwise from the full counter-clockwiseposition, the Carrier signal will be heard. As the knob is moved towardsthe 12 o’clock position, the Carrier signal will diminish and the fully vocod-ed sound will become more prominent. At the 12 o’clock position, only thefully vocoded will be heard. The Carrier or Modulator signals will not bepresent. As the LEVEL knob is moved clockwise from the 12 o’clock posi-tion, more of the raw Modulator signal will be introduced until at the fullyclockwise position, only the Modulator signal will be present.More settings are available to help shape the final Vocoder Effect. Theseare detailed on Page 46 in the Advanced Features chapter.Note : In Performance Mode, only one Vocoder can be used. InPerformance Mode, this is always routed to Part 1. Altering any vocoderparameters will always result in Part 1 being affected - even if it is not cur-rently selected for editng.Note : If either of the Effect SELECT buttons are pressed while the EffectsMenu is active in Menu Mode, the display will be updated to show set-tings relevant to the newly-selected Effect.EFFECTS LEVEL KnobThis control’s function depends upon the Effect currently selected for edit-ing by the SELECT buttons. In most cases, it will control the Effect’s level,but there are exceptions. All possibilities are detailed in the above table.ArpeggiatorAn Arpeggiator breaks down chords into single notes and plays them oneat a time. For example, if a ‘C’ triad chord is held, the notes C, E and Gwill play one by one in sequence.In Performance Mode, each Part can have its own Arpeggiator runningwith its own unique settings and time signature. Each Arpeggiator can besynchronised with the Arpeggiators used by the other Parts.Which Arpeggiator pattern is used and how the sequence of notes areplayed is determined by settings of the functions located in theArpeggiator Menu. See Page 54 in the Advanced Features chapter formore details on these.TEMPO KnobThis controls the speed at which the Arpeggiator plays back its notes.When turned fully anticlockwise, the Arpeggiator will step through asequence at 64 beats per minute. Clockwise movement increases speed.The maximum speed available is 191 b.p.m.Note ; In Performance Mode, there is only one Arpeggiator TEMPO con-trol which is common to all Parts. It is therefore not possible to have differ-ent Parts running at different TEMPO speeds.When the Global MIDI Clock Source value (see Page 50) is set to INT,this knob also controls the tempo of any synchronized Chorus, Delay,Panning or EQ effects. See the Hypersync paragraph on page 29 andthe Synchronisation Menu on page 52 for details on how to synchronisethese.When MIDI Clock Source is set to EXT, the tempo of any synchronizedArpeggiator, Chorus, Delay, Panning or EQ will be controlled by the tempoof the external sequencer instead of the TEMPO knob which will have noeffect on the speed.If this knob appears to have no effect on the tempo, the reason is proba-bly due to MIDI Clock Source being set to EXT or that the externalsequencer is currently stopped (stopped sequencers do not usually trans-mit MIDI Clock messages).ARP ON ButtonThis activates / deactivates the Arpeggiator. While the Arpeggiator is acti-vated, the LED above the button will be lit.While an arpeggio is running, it can be stopped immediately by eitherpressing the ARP ON button again or by pressing the PERF or PROGbuttons.ARP LATCH ButtonThis button enables the Arpeggiator Latch feature which enables theArpeggiator to remember the last set of notes played on the keyboard.When latched, the LED above the button is lit. The Arpeggiator sequencewill continue to play even after notes have been released.Once all notes on the keyboard have been released, the next chord to beplayed on the keyboard will clear the existing latch memory and only thenewly played chord will be Arpeggiated.Note : It is possible to control the Arpeggiator Latch On/Off from an exter-nal Computer/Sequencer/Keyboard. Transmit MIDI CC 64 (Sustain) with avalue of 127 to turn the Arpeggiator latch ON and transmit controller num-ber 64 with a value of 0 to turn the latch OFF.MAIN FEATURES AND OPERATIONEffects / Arpeggiator / Hypersync Section• 28 •Effects Level KnobEffect Selected Function Display ValueDelay Delay Level Delay Send 0...127Reverb Reverb Level Reverb Send 0...127Chorus Chorus Level Chrous Send 0...127Distortion Distortion Boost Distortion 0...127EQ EQ Cut/Boost Equalisation -64...63Panning Mod Depth PAN Mod Depth 0…127Vocoder Vocoder On/Balance Vocoder Bal 0...127