1. Overview 2. Installation and Registration 3. Synth Controls 4. Presets 5. Arp, Sequencer and Chords 6. Effects
1. Overview
Introducing Dirty Modular, a powerful hybrid modular virtual instrument powered by the Kontakt Free Player. Under the hood of this beast lies 8,496 pristine audio samples, direct from a real analogue modular synth. These form the bases of 174 multisampled oscillator settings ready to be combined, routed and processed further. From the front end you are presented with a stunning GUI allowing you to create patches visually using the 3d rendered cables, as well as load and save internal presets at lightening speed and without reloading the main Kontakt instrument. This stunning instrument is packed full of analogue modelled effects and powerful LFO's, envelopes and an analogue style step sequencer. It is able to create a huge range of sounds, from filthy basses and leads to retro 80's pop to deep melodic pads and everything in between. We wanted to create something that put detailed raw sounds already at your fingertips, allowing deep and complex sounds to be built easily without fiddling, allowing you to concentrate on what is most important - the music! The sounds were recorded in conjunction with Dom Morley from Metropolis Studios in London who we'd like to thank for his patience and hard work on this! We'd also like to give a big thanks to Phil from the Samplephonics team who has relentlessly scripted this incredible instrument and fine tuned it to perfection. It has been over a year and a half in the making, but boy has it been worth the wait!
2. Installation and Registration
Once you have downloaded all 6 of the separate .rar files, ensure that they are all in the same folder and then unrar the first file ‘part1.rar’ using WinRar for Windows or StuffIt Expander for Mac. The library folder will then be extracted and you can save this anywhere on your computer. Once extracted you can add the library to Kontakt. To do this open Kontakt’s file browser, click on the ‘Libraries’ tab and then click ‘Add Library’. Select the unzipped library folder in the dialogue that appears and click ‘Choose’. The library should now be visible in Kontakt’s ‘Libraries’ tab and must be activated before use.
Click on the ‘Activate’ button on the Dirty Modular library panel to open the Product Activation screen.
Your serial code will be listed next to the Dirty modular download link in your Samplephonics account area. This can be found by logging into your Samplephonics account and clicking on your Dirty Modular order number. Enter the serial number into the Product Activation screen and click Activate. Once activated it is important to use Kontakt’s ‘Batch Resave’ feature, as this will drastically reduce loading times. To do this go to File>Batch re-save and click yes on the warning that appears. Then select the unzipped library folder in the dialogue that appears and click ‘Choose’.
You can now load the instrument by clicking on the ‘Intsruments’ button on the Library panel and then double clicking Dirty Modular.nki.
3. Presets
The library comes with just one .nki file as all preset loading and saving is handled within the instrument itself. The built in preset browser can be opened by clicking on the ‘Presets’ button.
Presets can be loaded by double clicking the corresponding .nka file within the browser or clicking either the left or right arrow button to load the next or previous preset in the folder. Clicking the synth button will return to the main synth interface. All included presets can be found within the ‘Factory’ folder that is further divided into two sub categories. ‘Waveform Combinations’ features presets with carefully selected oscillator waveforms that are designed to work together. These presets load with all other parameters initialized. The second category ‘Creative Presets’ features presets that make full use of all the instruments’ controls.
Clicking the ‘Save’ button opens a ‘Save As’ dialogue box that allows you to save presets into the ‘User’ folder. Saved presets will not be visible in the preset browser until the Dirty Modular instrument has been closed and reloaded.
4. Synth Controls
Main The interface relies heavily on virtual patch cables in order to configure the many possible complex modulation and signal routing options. The routing of a module can be changed by clicking on the its corresponding ‘Out’ socket.
A menu containing all possible destinations for that module is the n displayed and clicking on a destination will reroute the module’s patch cable. The patch cables can be shown and hidden using the ‘show cables’ toggle button. The majority of parameters are controlled using dials. Any parameter displayed on an LCD screen can be edited using the drop down menu that is displayed when clicking on the screen.
Oscillators The instrument features 2 oscillator sections, each of which can load one of 170 waveforms.
Waveforms are selected and loaded via the dropdown menu that appears when clicking on the oscillator’s LCD screen. Waveforms are split into submenus and clicking on a waveforms name will load it and display the waveforms number on the oscillator’s LCD screen. The ‘Next/Previous’ buttons can also be used to quickly browse from one waveform to another and the ‘R’ button will pick a waveform at random.
Each oscillator features controls for amplitude, pitch, fine pitch and pan. Oscillator 1 also features a noise control. This sets the level of white noise added to the oscillator’s output and is not affected by oscillator 1’s ‘Amp’ control.
Each oscillator’s output signal can be routed separately to the corresponding filter or FX module. If no routing destination is selected, the signal is routed straight to the instrument’s output bypassing the filler and FX. LFOs and Envelopes can be routed to modulate each oscillator’s amplitude and pitch settings.
The oscillator control link button can be used to copy settings from oscillator 1 to oscillator 2 and when linked oscillator 1’s controls will control oscillator 2. Any modulation routing assigned to oscillator 1 will also now affect oscillator 2. It is important to note that the link setting does affect oscillator 2’s waveform selection or output signal routing.
Portamento and Play Modes The play mode can be changed between polyphonic, monophonic and legato by clicking the corresponding position on the play mode selection switch. Portamento glide time can be set using the ‘portamento’ control.
Filters Each filter can be switched between Low Pass, High Pass and Band Pass modes. They each feature controls for cutoff frequency, resonance and keyboard tracking.
Each filters output signal can be routed separately to the corresponding FX module. If no routing destination is selected, the signal is routed straight to the instrument’s output bypassing the FX. LFOs and Envelopes can be routed to modulate each filter’s cutoff and resonance settings. As with the oscillator link button, the filter link button will copy all settings from filter 1 to filter 2 and filter 1’s
controls will control filter 2 allowing the filter section to behave like one single filter module for ease of control. Note that signal output routing is not affected by the link setting but unlike the oscillator section, the filter type setting is affected by the filter link setting. Any modulation routing assigned to filter 1 will also now affect filter 2. LFOs The instrument features 3 LFO modules each with a rate selection menu and dial, master amount control and individual controls for each of the five available waveforms. Sine, Triangle, Rectangle, Sawtooth and Random waveforms can be mixed using the individual controls then the total modulation level set using the amount control. The rates of LFO1 and LFO2 can be modulated by LFO3 if chosen using LFO3’s drop down routing menu.
Envelope 3 ADSR envelopes modules are available and each feature controls for attack time, decay time, sustain level, release time and amount. Note that the amount control is not available when the modulation destination is set to either Osc 1 Amp or Osc 2 Amp. In both these cases the modulation amount is automatically set to 100%.
Sequencer The sequencer can be turned on/off using the ‘Sequencer’ toggle switch and features 16 steps, each with a pitch dial and LED play indicator.
The pitch dials control the pitch of each step and each dial has a range of +/-12 semitones from the pitch of the currently held key. Alt+clicking an LED play indicator will remove the corresponding
step from the sequence. Further parameters can be controlled via the sequencer menu that is displayed when clicking on the sequencer LCD screen.
From the menu, submenus are used to set resolution (speed), swing, length, retrigger and destination. With retrigger enabled the sequence will restart with every note-on event. With retrigger disabled the sequence will reset only when all held notes are released. By default the destination is set to the note trigger option but it can also be routed to Osc 1 Amp, Osc 2 Amp, Filter 1 Cutoff and Filter 2 Cutoff. In these modes the note trigger is bypassed and the destination parameter is set to the dial value at each step. Note that if the oscillator link switch is enabled then oscillator 2 amp will also be modulated by the sequencer if the destination is set to Osc 1 Amp. The same is true for filter 2 if the filter link switch is enabled and the sequencer destination is set to Filter 2 Cutoff. FX The instrument features 2 multi FX units which can be switched to following effects using the selection menu that appears when clicking on the units LCD screen: -
Chorus Flanger Phaser Saturation Distortion Skreamer LoFi
When the FX link switch is enabled the settings and effect selection will be copied from FX1 to FX2 and FX1’s controls will control FX2. Delay The delay effect is enabled using the ‘Delay’ toggle switch and features control sliders for amount, size, delay and frequency. The delay effect features control sliders for amount, feedback, damp and pan. The delay time can be set using the menu that appears when clicking on the module’s LCD screen.
Reverb The reverb effect is enabled using the ‘Reverb’ toggle switch and features control sliders for amount, size, delay and damping.
We hope you enjoy this machine, if you have any feedback, or need any help with any of the features, drop us a line at
[email protected] and we’ll be happy to help. Cheers!
