Tag: plugin

Basics of Mixing – 7.1 What is Delay?

Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an mixing engineer and music producer. Today, I want to delve into the time effect known as delay.

Shall we get started?

So, what exactly is delay?

It’s simple, really. Delay is an effect that repeats the same sound with a time difference.

Why would we use this effect, though? There are several reasons, which can be summarized as follows:

  1. Using only reverb can sometimes create unnatural reverb tails.
  2. The feedback feature allows for the creation of very long reverb tails.
  3. It can add an artificial groove to a source.
  4. Special delay effects can be applied to instruments (especially common with electric guitars, and can also be used with short delays).

Effectively using delay can create a rich and natural reverb. If you’ve only been using reverb to add space to your mix, try incorporating delay as well.

I personally favor UAD’s Precision Delay because it lets you set the delay time in seconds rather than adjusting it via feedback. By setting the delay time similarly to RT60, which I’ll discuss in the reverb section, the sound can fade naturally.

Using a delay plugin to set the pre-delay instead of the reverb plugin’s pre-delay can also be effective. Especially if the reverb plugin doesn’t allow synchronization of the pre-delay time with the BPM, you can achieve a precise pre-delay using a delay plugin that does.

Setting a very short delay with minimal feedback and then filtering out high and low frequencies, while adjusting the volume, can create a subtle groove that wasn’t originally show in the source. This can add a sticky, rhythmic feel to percussion, which is particularly useful in genres like R&B and hip-hop.

Using historical replica delays can also help recreate the vintage sound of old-school or retro music.

There are countless crucial aspects of mixing, but I believe that handling reverb effectively is one of the key factors that define the quality of a sound. However, this is an area that’s hard to explain solely with words. You really have to experiment with various delay and reverb plugins to grasp it fully. It’s a challenging aspect, even for me.

Today, we’ll wrap up with this brief overview of delay. See you in the next post!

Zynaptiq Pitchmap Sale (until July 28)

Hello, I’m Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

Today, I want to introduce Pitchmap, a plugin by Zynaptiq that’s frequently used in color bass music.

Purchase pitchmap at plugin boutique

(Purchasing through this link supports my blog with a small commission.)

For this review, I requested an NFR (Not for Resale) code for Pitchmap from Plugin Boutique. Thankfully, Zynaptiq provided me with the ZAP IV bundle code. I’d like to express my gratitude to them. Besides Pitchmap, I’ll be reviewing other Zynaptiq plugins during their sale periods.

Let’s get started!

Pitchmap is a pitch correction plugin created by Zynaptiq in 2013.

While pitch correction is commonly associated with vocal tuning, Pitchmap is more often used in remixing and sound design.

The horizontal axis represents pitch, similar to a keyboard roll.

Although only three octaves are shown,

you can adjust the display by clicking the light gray area at the top to navigate to the desired pitch range.

The vertical axis represents time, with red/orange markings indicating the pitch at that specific time. Essentially, the X and Y axes are flipped compared to typical vocal tuning plugins.

The white bars show relative volume, and the circles indicate pitch shifts.

For example, moving a circle representing F# upwards changes the sound from F# to G.

This allows you to change the key of the entire piece arbitrarily.

Double-clicking on a circle transforms it into various shapes: inverted triangle, triangle, square, etc.

  1. A square maintains the pitch within the same octave.
  2. A circle shifts to the nearest pitch (up by 9 semitones or down by 3 semitones).
  3. An inverted triangle always shifts downwards.
  4. A triangle always shifts upwards.

In Key Edit mode, you can click on notes in the piano roll to exclude them from playback.

Clicking Bypass and selecting notes in the piano roll means those notes will bypass the effect.

You can also allow MIDI input to select pitches in real-time through a MIDI channel.

You might wonder if these changes would make the sound awkward, but surprisingly, the result is quite cohesive, making Pitchmap ideal for remixing.

The white bars in the top piano roll can be moved to set a specific pitch range. The image above sets the range from Eb downwards to be excluded.

Other parameters include:

  1. Threshold: Determines the extent of tuning (lower values mean more comprehensive processing).
  2. Feel: Controls subtle pitch variations after tuning (higher values retain more nuance).
  3. Purify: Reduces noise above 50% and increases noise below 50%.
  4. Glide: Adds glide/portamento effects.
  5. Electrify: Enhances the synthetic feel or optimizes signal processing.

Exploring the rest of the features will help you understand their functionalities better.

This plugin is not only useful for contemporary music, often centered around remixes and bass, but also for creating unique sounds in other genres. Personally, I enjoy blending these elements into string or band sections for a sophisticated and effective sound.

I’ll share some YouTube videos demonstrating how I use Pitchmap.

The current sale lasts until July 28, and the discount is substantial. If interested, I highly recommend purchasing.

Purchase pitchmap at plugin boutique

(Purchasing through this link supports my blog with a small commission.)

Additionally, purchasing from Plugin Boutique entitles you to a free plugin. This month, the options are Frostbite 2 by AudioThing or EQuivocate by Newfangled Audio.

Frostbite 2 offers various modulation effects, and EQuivocate is a graphic EQ with auditory filters and a Match EQ feature. Personally, I’d choose Frostbite 2.

See you in the next post!

Create Your Own Virtual Instrument with NI’s Kontakt!

Hello everyone! This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

Today, I’d like to share a simple guide on creating your own virtual instrument using Kontakt 6 (often just referred to as Kontakt).

While Kontakt 7 is the latest version, I haven’t upgraded to the newest Komplete bundle due to the lack of significant new libraries. Therefore, I’m using Komplete with Kontakt 6 for this tutorial. The process should be similar across versions, so I hope this will still be helpful.

Given Kontakt’s extensive features, I will not cover every detail here. For in-depth editing, I recommend checking the manual.

Let’s get started!

First, open Kontakt and double-click the empty space on the right to create a sampler. Click the wrench icon in the upper left corner to open the settings tab, as shown above. There are a lot of settings available!

First, let’s open the Mapping Editor highlighted in the picture.

You’ll see a piano roll screen along with a grid that looks like an Excel spreadsheet. The horizontal axis represents pitch, and the vertical axis represents velocity. Load your desired sample onto this grid.

The grid and the piano roll will be colored like this. Pressing the colored keys on the piano roll will play the original sample, while pressing other keys will change the pitch.

You can adjust the highlighted areas with your mouse.

By properly adjusting the areas, you can set different samples to play depending on the velocity when you press a key, as shown above.

Similarly, you can click and drag the colored areas on the piano roll to adjust the pitch range.

For example, if you open the settings for Alicia’s Keys, a commonly used instrument, and examine the mapping, you’ll see 12 velocity layers for each key. Instruments created with Kontakt often have such detailed velocity mappings. The more sophisticated the instrument, the fuller the mapping editor will be.

After completing the mapping, you can use the Wave Editor to fine-tune the samples to your liking.

You can loop the sample or perform various other edits.

The parameters are similar to those of general samplers, so if you’re familiar with samplers, you should find it easy to use.

If you’re new to samplers, exploring Kontakt can help you understand the structure of virtual instruments created with it, which can be useful when purchasing such instruments.

After some basic editing, the sound of your virtual instrument is complete. Finally, select Instrument Options and add a wallpaper with a TGA or PNG file (the manual suggests a width of 633 pixels).

This gives you a virtual instrument with a polished look. But what if you want adjustable parameters like other Kontakt instruments?

You need to use the Script Editor to add those features.

If you don’t want to dive too deep, you can simply select a factory preset from the side and add the “make_perfview” command between the “on init” and “end on” lines.

This will display the factory preset script in the main window, known as the performance view. To create a more customized performance view, you’ll need to learn scripting from various forums.

https://community.native-instruments.com/categories/scripting-workshop

For those who want to explore further, NI has a community that’s worth checking out.

Other settings like Effects, Envelopes, and Buses are similar to those in other samplers or track settings, so I won’t explain them in detail here.

It may seem challenging at first, but once you understand it, you’ll be able to use other Kontakt-based virtual instruments more flexibly. If you’re into music production, it’s definitely worth studying.

I hope this post is helpful for those dealing with virtual instruments.

See you in the next post!

DC Snares (Drum Machine) Virtual Instrument Release Sale (Until July 31st, $31.9)

Hello, This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

Today, I want to introduce a new virtual instrument developed by Plugin Boutique.

The newly released DC Snares is a virtual instrument that allows you to create sounds by synthesizing four different samples. You can use the Randomizer in the top right corner to generate sounds randomly.

There are a total of 10 built-in FX, allowing you to apply FX to individual samples, FX to the bus, and FX to the master track separately through the Advanced controls.

Each sample can be individually adjusted for envelope, pitch, and volume over time, and you can also set the start and end points of the samples to your preference.

In modern music production, it’s crucial to refine drum sounds meticulously to create a good groove. DC Snares offers all the necessary features for this and has a simple UI that makes sound creation convenient.

Despite its name, DC Snares is not limited to creating snare sounds. It can also be used to create hi-hats, kicks, bass, and other drum machine-like sounds. The presets are quite usable, making it a worthwhile purchase for around $30.

Purchase DC Snares at plugin boutique

(Purchasing through this link provides a small commission to me, which greatly helps in running this blog)

The sale runs until the end of July, so if you frequently work with samples, I recommend giving it a try. It also supports loading personal WAV files, adding to the fun and versatility.

See you in the next post!