Novation Ultranova User Manual

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Novation Ultranova User Manual Manual pdf 9 page image

8Saving a patch (Page 2)RE1: Not used.RE2: Bank selectionUse this control to select which bank (A,B,C or D) the patch is to be written to.RE3: Patch positionUse this control to select the patch destination number where the currently edited soundwill be written to. The current destination patch name will be displayed under RE4 andRE5 for reference, although this will be overwritten with the new patch name if the patch issaved without changing the position.Use the COMPARE button to listen to the patch selected by RE2 and RE3.RE4 – RE5: Not used.RE6: Category selectSelect a category for the new patch. See page 7 for the list of categories.RE7: Genre selectSelect a genre for the new patch. See page 7 for the list of available genres.RE8: Not used.To exit the Write menu press any other synth button (e.g., SYNTH [25]).Note: A faster method of managing patches (writing, loading, renaming, reordering etc.) isby using the downloadable UltraNova Librarian. This can be downloaded free of charge fromhttp://novationmusic.com/support/ultranova.Updating the UltraNova’s Operating System (PC)OS update iles will be available from time to time atwww.novationmusic.com/support/ultranova in the form of a MIDI SysEx ile. The updateprocedure requires the UltraNova to be connected via USB to a computer which has irsthad the necessary USB drivers installed. Full instructions on performing the update will besupplied with the download.SyntheSIS tutorIalThis section covers the subject of sound generation in more detail and discusses the vari-ous basic features available in the UltraNova’s sound generation and processing blocks.It is recommended that this chapter is read carefully if analogue sound synthesis is anunfamiliar subject. Users familiar with this subject can skip this chapter and move on to thenext chapter.To gain an understanding of how a synthesizer generates sound it is helpful to have an ap-preciation of the components that make up a sound, both musical and non-musical.The only way that a sound may be detected is by air vibrating the eardrum in a regular,periodic manner. The brain interprets these vibrations (very accurately) into one of anininite number of different types of sound.Remarkably, any sound may be described in terms of just three properties, and all soundsalways have them. They are:• Pitch• Tone• VolumeWhat makes one sound different from another is the relative magnitudes of the threeproperties as initially present in the sound, and how the properties change over theduration of the sound.With a musical synthesizer, we deliberately set out to have precise control over these threeproperties and, in particular, how they can be changed during the “lifetime” of the sound.The properties are often given different names: Volume may be referred to as Amplitude,Loudness or Level, Pitch as Frequency and Tone as Timbre.PitchAs stated, sound is perceived by air vibrating the ear drum. The pitch of the sound isdetermined by how fast the vibrations are. For an adult human, the slowest vibrationperceived as sound is about twenty times a second, which the brain interprets as a basstype sound; the fastest is many thousands of times a second, which the brain interprets asan high treble type sound.If the number of peaks in the two waveforms (vibrations) are counted, it will be seen thatthere are exactly twice as many peaks in Wave B as in Wave A. (Wave B is actually anoctave higher in pitch than Wave A). It is the number of vibrations in a given period thatdetermines the pitch of a sound. This is the reason that pitch is sometimes referred to asfrequency. It is the number of waveform peaks counted during a given period of time whichdeines the pitch, or frequency.ToneMusical sounds consist of several different, related pitches occurring simultaneously. Theloudest is referred to as the ‘fundamental’ pitch and corresponds to the perceived noteof the sound. Other pitches making up the sound which are related to the fundamental insimple mathematical ratios are called harmonics. The relative loudness of each harmonicas compared to the loudness of the fundamental determines the overall tone or ‘timbre’ ofthe sound.Consider two instruments such as a harpsichord and a piano playing the same note on thekeyboard and at equal volume. Despite having the same volume and pitch, the instrumentsstill sound distinctly different. This is because the different note-making mechanisms ofthe two instruments generate different sets of harmonics; the harmonics present in a pianosound are different to those found in a harpsichord sound.Time TimeA BCH BROWSE Patch Name Find By Category GenreA000 Init Program A000-D127 All AllTCH SAVE PATCHSAVE Posng *------- -------- Upper Lower Number PunctuateA o Init Program A a 0 spacePATCHSAVE Bank Patch Destination SaveCatg SaveGenreDest+C&G A 0 Init Program None NoneTWEAK Tweak1 Tweak2 Tweak3 Tweak4 Tweak5 Tweak6 Tweak7 Tweak8---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----TOUCH M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 1234560 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods NmbrMods0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0E123456 E123456 E123456 E123456 E123456 E123456 E123456 E123456----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 123456 M 1234560 R----- 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------ 0 ------