Keyboard Patches Download

[Brayan Sedillo]

Iwant to build a keyboard patch in FL Studio. As in a single 'instrument' where the keyboard is split in several zones, to each of which corresponds a stack of simpler instruments. A simple example would be electric bass + synth bass in the left part and a fat composite lead synth in the right.

One more thing I'd like is playing octaves while playing only single notes on my MIDI keyboard, for example on piano or strings sound. One way to accomplish this is to load two instances of the instrument, transpose one of them an octave up/down and control them through a Layer. However this is inelegant and may be punishing performance-wise with resource-heavy synths.

What I'd like in this regard is basically some kind of a MIDI signal filter, which takes some notes on input and outputs those same notes plus also them, but transposed an octave up/down. This way, one instrument instance would suffice.

Inside Patcher, open an instance of "VFX Keyboard Splitter" to do the splitting part. You can create up to 16 zones in here, which can overlap in any way you want (or even "fade in" to each other!) You will need to unhide the output corresponding to each zone that you are using, by right-clicking the VFX Keyboard Splitter plugin, much like how you unhid Port 1 in Patcher.

These outputs (zone 1, zone 2, etc.) can be routed to any generator plugins in Patcher. Layering is achieved by routing one zone to several generators. And lastly, make sure you're sending the audio output from each generator to "To FL Studio".

Lastly, octave doubling (or even playing full chords with a single key) can be done with the "VFX Key Mapper" plugin. The routing for this is similar to VFX Keyboard Splitter, but it only has one output.

Theaters around the world can license KeyboardTEK's programming by going to www.keyboardtek.com and filling out a short online form. You will get an immediate quote and, after verification of your performance license, payment can be made online. A download link will be automatically generated 4-6 weeks before your opening night.

Just wondering what methods you guys use to equalize patch volumes. Do you go through each one manually and just use your ears, or do you prefer taking the guesswork out of the equation by using a meter of some sort? I know the MODX specifically has volume meters per part, but a difficulty might be that not all sounds stay at the same uniform volume through the duration played and multiple parts stacked might make it hard to tell where the overall volume should be. Maybe there are other potential methods as well that I'm missing (besides maybe not giving a care about equalization and making the sound engineer's night a living hell).

You can't use peak meters, they will deceive you.

I use good old VU meters. They are averaging meters and give a more accurate indication of volume. I don't use my Tascam 246 much anymore but it's the only device I own with VU meters, which have worked very well for leveling patch volumes.

It might be instructive to have some VU meters in my live chain just to make sure I'm not clipping. This is just about the only thing I miss about the various small-format analog mixers I used to submix my rig with vs. the Key Largo I use now. But generally I think just getting in the neighborhood of equal by ear is fine, and then tweak levels by ear again at a full-band rehearsal or gig when you can hear yourself in ensemble context, re-saving patches as you go.

Metering wouldn't be that useful for my approach, as my levels tend to vary a fair bit from song to song depending on the importance of keys to the arrangement. I don't sandbag FOH at soundcheck, I'll give them the absolute loudest thing to set gains with, and then I'll let them know sometime before the set begins not to worry too much about chasing me around - if I'm quiet, it's probably because I'm supposed to be, and I'll get louder again when I need to be. When forewarned, they usually seem to appreciate that.

Both keyboards (via Mogami TRS-XLRM cables) and all virtual instruments are routed through PreSonus Studio One v6.latest via their Studio 192 interface. Virtually flawless when set up correctly and maintained.

How will you play a patch, what's the minimum or required average volume to in a band arrive at sufficient sound levels without having to wreck the keyboard, and, which space are you going to play in, and most of all: what's your P.A. system going to be like, full range, speakers-on-poles, compression and processing in the mixer, limiter at the output, etc.

ALl those elements will influence the perceived volume where the audience is and there is strong dependence all over the place. A good way to decide on patch volume equality is a good (full range, neutral sounding) monitoring system used at normal volume, playing the patches as intended. In practice this idea can easily fly out the window in the face of digital harshness taking over almost every other sound aspect, mid frequency max sound level control, and certainly simply sounds being used in a very not-neutral way, such as small speakers projecting too much sound, using all kinds of bass pronouncing sound elements (space resonance instead of a sub) etc.

Tough issue. My band gets a bit frustrated with me and my patches, as do I. I'm the only one of us that deals with dozens of patches across two items of gear, our guitarist has like 3 sounds.

It's one reason I tend to use the same patches for similar sounds, as I wrote in the "how many patches" thread. I'm not going to use 10 string patches for 10 songs that need strings, even if "on the record" they are different. It's more important for me to be volume consistent than it is for me to be patch-accurate.

Also compounding the problem is if, like me, you try to go stereo when you can and mono when you have to. Some patches dip in volume when going to mono, presumably from phase cancellation.

A problem with using meters or other static method--if the band plays dynamically from song to song. We won't play "Drift Away" at the same intensity as a driving rock song. That doesn't mean we crank volumes for those; it means the guitarist has a lighter sound and plays lighter, drummer isn't pounding like a caveman. So if I play rhodes or strings or organ on a song like that it probably needs to either be a quieter patch (which for an organ might mean pulling back the drawbars) or one where I can use velocity to control volume. This is where the light keys of my Modx7 do NOT shine, as they don't offer the amount of control that some actions might.

I've started applying some light compression at the board on my keys. Now, I hate it when sound engineers slap heavy compression or a limiter on my keys--which they will do at the drop of a hat-- and I hear that in my monitor feed (and that's a situation where I try to monitor pre-front of house, but for some of our gigs they expect us to use in-ears--one hands each of us a wireless pack when we reach the stage). Light compression isn't there to be heard, it's to try to take down the worst offending peaks just a bit. Talking like 2 or 3:1 ratio and 3-5 db down at max.

What I'm going to do is do some out front recordings using my zoom h2 if I can find it and it still works, buying a similar unit if I can't or it doesn't! This is not good enough for a demo but it does a good job at letting you know what is popping out of the main speakers and what is getting buried. My in-ears are very clear but what really counts is out front.

As I say, a tough issue and very important.

I've also had a bit of an issue with purchased MODX libraries being different in volume than my custom patches. Purgatory Creek rhodes are a bit down compared to my reference patch--which is the CFX main piano I use--and that's a bit of a problem because the part volumes are already maxed and the live set volume is also at 127. (I didn't even know until recently that each Live Set slot has a volume setting!) I either have to go back and turn down all my others or crank up the PC patches internally. I optioned for the first even though it's more work--I would like to have some headroom and I basically painted myself into a corner If you are in that situation, what I have done a couple times is go into the Performance/Part(s) and apply something transparent (like an EQ) that essentially serves as a volume boost. By "reference patch" I mean that the chosen CFX piano is a rough starting point for other Modx patches and my other keyboard. It is set pretty loud (though as mentioned I did turn it and others down a tad to have some headroom) so certainly nothing should be louder than it is.

When I first got my PC3 the patch volume levels varied. First thing I did was attempt to level all of them in my studio so that when I switch from patch to patch the volume was consistent. Then I go to the gig and discover that when you play in a live band with guitars, drums and bass competition in certain tonal frequencies what appeared to be level in my studio isn't leveled live, a guitar might be in the same zone I'm playing in and because of this a certain patch doesn't sound as loud as it did in the studio, or vice versa. So I readjusted the patch level during the gigs to smooth them out. Of course now when I come back into the studio those adjusted patches need to be readjusted to be studio volume-leveled. So now I have two versions, studio volume-leveled patches and gig volume-leveled patches and over time I've got them where I'm now happy. My point is that it isn't a one shot fix, you'll have to tweak the board several times to get the volume leveled to a point that it no longer creates anxiety when patches are switched. It's a process.

Using a static method like measuring with LUFS doesn't solve the problem, but it expedites the solution. If you have a baseline level, then it's easier to nudge levels up and down for live performance (and save the preset at the time for future use).

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