Re: KeyMix 1.0 For After Effects Crack Mac Osx
Alfonzo Liebenstein
Effects Rack lets you apply several audio effects to your audio tracks at the same time. It's simply a container for audio processing tools such as EQ, compression, reverb, delay, distortion, etc.
In the effects control graph, you can view the Frequency Spectrum that moves per audio frequency in real time. You can use the frequency spectrum to identify imbalances in audio and use control points to correct them.
I have been handed the task of taking over several scripts lately and I've found that a couple people consistently use a Keymix instead of a merge operation. This workflow confuses me because a merge operation allows you so much more flexibility. The only thing I've ever used a keymix for is combining separate keys and that's all I ever intend to use it for.
In this video I break down the basics and fundamentals of what keying is and how you can make keys from individual channels. I also talk about using keymix to combine different keys, and how to isolate only certain areas of the key to adjust with a post- grade.
Imagine a typical mixdown situation in any size studio, 4-, 8-, 16- or 24-track. You don't have any automated mixing facilities and you are about to mix a multitrack tape down to a stereo master. On the studio's mixer you have three effects sends and a mute switch per channel and your effects are limited to just one reverb, echo and chorus device.
As you're a fairly hi-tech oriented studio, you're already probably into syncing drum machines and sequencers to tape either with a simple sync-to-tape device or a more flexible SMPTE timecode system.
The mixdown begins. Tape counter positions or timecode readouts have been written down for the various events that are to happen throughout the song. You have a keyboard track which plays all the way through but you've now decided that you want it to play on the verses only and it also needs an effect on it. So you note down the points at which to mute the keyboard channel. The reverb effect you have is spending most of its time processing the drum sound but you want to add echo on the last snare beat of the song as well. Not too difficult, until you remember that it will only sound right if you kill the sound of all the other instruments a fraction of a second before that snare beat. Then you ask yourself, 'can I do that and have I got enough fingers to press all the mutes or do I need a helping hand from somebody else?'.
It all sounds very tricky, but it's the sort of situation you often find yourself in when mixing and there's definitely no way you're going to let the fact that you haven't really got enough effects units, or for that matter hands, stop you producing the results you want. But it's all too often the case that you mess up a mute or you're not fast enough at turning the echo send up and so it's back to the beginning for yet another attempt.
The Keymix avoids that scenario and helps you achieve all the routing and muting of channels and effects with precision, time after time. This leaves you free to concentrate on the subtleties of mixing the overall levels rather than worrying about when to switch the effects on or off.
Now that may not sound particularly stunning, but when you actually mix down with the added semi-automation that the Keymix gives you, creativity seems to start and the struggle of mixing to the pace of the music stops. The improvement is obvious.
The Keymix system is a straightforward mixer that has been broken down into separate sections, each housed in a 19" rack-mount unit.
The KM1 forms the heart of the system and incorporates eight input channels and, as the concept of the mixer is a modular one, it's not surprising to find that the KM2 has been designed as a slave unit that allows you to expand the system in groups of eight input channels. This is done by daisy-chaining KM2 slaves to each other up to a maximum configuration of one KM1 master and three KM2 slave units, which results in a total of 32 input channels.
Within the system you can also add up to four KM3 units, each of which offers eight channels of three-band sweep equalisation (more of that later).
The final system component is the KMR remote control unit. It's here that the control of signal routing/muting from input channels and effects sends takes place, together with the programming and storage of events - in other words, it's the brain of the system!
None of the mixer sections of the Keymix system offer unknown territory to those who have used even the simplest of mixers before. The KM1 master unit is an unassumming 8 into 2 mixer with each channel offering Input Level control and Pan, two Auxiliary (effects) Sends A and B (each is programmed to route the signal from the input channel to a desired Aux Send, but not necessarily the same one), an Aux Return Level with Pan and a single switch which allows Aux Send B to derive its signal from the main input channel as would be normal, or from the Aux Return, so permitting further processing or routing of an already processed sound. Around the back there's a stereo jack insert point on each channel for patching in the KM3 EQ or anything else.
Completing the KM1 input channel are a couple of peak LED indicators (red) to check the signal levels and a couple of mute status LEDs (yellow) to let you know if the channel is on or off. Of particular interest here is the peak LED for the Aux Return. It's nice to see this feature as it helps enormously when setting up return signal levels and keeps the risk of clipping under control. Why don't more mixers have them?
At the right-hand end of the KM1 is the stereo output section and this offers level control for both the main stereo output signal and the headphone monitor. There's a mute switch to knock off the main output but this doesn't affect the headphone feed, so it's useful for setting up mixes before unleashing them onto the main stereo mix. Finally, there's a pair of VU bargraph meters to check the overall signal levels.
Returning to the KM3 equaliser, as mentioned, it offers eight channels of three-band EQ using dual-concentric knobs (sweep range and cut/boost) with good overlapping sweep frequencies that range from 40Hz up to 15kHz across the low, mid and high controls. There's also a handy EQ bypass switch for doing just that.
On the rear is a stereo jack socket marked 'Patch' to allow the KM3 to be linked via one cable directly into the master KM1 unit's insert point. Alternatively, you can use the normal in/out sockets if you wish to patch the equaliser into the system after the signal has passed completely through the KM1.
Well, having dealt with the mixer section, it's time to look at the KMR remote control and see what the Keymix system can actually do.
As with any mixer, a flexible routing system is essential if you're going to be allowed maximum creative use. Unlike other mixers, the KMR directly controls the routing via its software rather than using mechanical hardwired switches. This means that all routing is 'soft' and therefore totally programmable.
In programming a channel route, you select which route memory (00 to 99) you want to store the information in, select the mixer channel (1 to 32) and then you decide which Aux Send (1 to 8) you would like to send the signal to. Now this is where the differences between a normal mixer and the Keymix become apparent. Usually you would send a signal from, say, mixer channel 1 out on its Aux Send which may have a reverb unit connected to it. With the Keymix, channel 1 doesn't necessarily have to go to Aux Send 1, it can be routed to Aux Send 5 instead which may have a digital delay connected to it. The beauty of this system is that you are able to programme a route memory so that channel 1 in memory 1 is routed to Aux 1 (reverb), but then for memory 2, channel 1 can be routed to Aux 5 (digital delay) and so on. The benefit is that you can share a small number of effects units amongst all the input channels and no one channel need ever be tied-up to any one effect. That's flexibility for you!
Now if that isn't enough, AHB have in fact provided two Aux Sends (A and B) per channel and each has its own level control on the KM1 mixer. Therefore, not only can you route the signal to different effects at any time, but you can also have the sound in a mixer channel going out to two entirely different destinations via Aux A and B.
The muting aspect of the KM1 mixer is as flexible as the routing of channel signals. There are two points at which the signal may be muted: at the main input to each channel, and at the Aux Return input. If a mute is selected, a LED next to the relevant Input Level control illuminates to reassure you that there is actually a signal present though you can't hear it.
Programming of mutes is done in the same manner as for routing. You choose a mute patch memory (00 to 99) - from a different set of memories - and select the mixer channel you want to mute. Then entering 0 or 1 in the mute data section switches the channel Input and Aux Return off or on respectively.
Muting combinations of these two points gives you total control over whether you want a sound (channel) in the overall mix, and if so, whether you want to hear it with an effect on or not.
Creatively, this facility could be used to mute any extraneous noises that have leaked onto a vocal track; or to patch a snare sound into a channel, process it through a reverb unit and then control the points at which you want to hear the reverbed snare. There are any number of possible uses where fast muting of channels and effects are required.
This is the final mode and forms the second level of automation within the KMR unit. The idea of external patch changing from a MIDI keyboard as previously described, ties up one of your instruments with the chore of just sending the MIDI program numbers into the KMR whenever a change is required. So, to avoid wasting the capabilities of a valuable instrument, the KMR houses its own event sequencer to allow these changes to be pre-programmed by the user.
In Sequencer mode as in MIDI mode, two sets of data are required after the initial sequence condition has been set. You must first specify which of the 8 clock modes you want to have drive the system. The available choices are:
Manual - ie. step only
Manual step via footswitch
Internal Clock (29-320 bpm)
Sync 24 - where an external Roland-style clock pulse can control the KMR tempo
MIDI - where an external MIDI clock can control the KMR
Internal Clock Record - same as the normal internal clock except that it acts as a free-running, real-time event recorder and remembers an event each time you press the footswitch
Sync 24 Record - same as above but uses an external Sync 24 clock
MIDI Record - uses an external MIDI clock with real-time footswitch programming of event points.
An added bonus of the clock selection is that it converts timing data from Sync 24 clocks to MIDI timing data automatically and it also generates MIDI Song Position Pointers.
Two further sequence conditions need to be set next - the tempo, and the sequence song number ie. which of the 10 sequences you want to programme (0 to 9). In setting the tempo, you're asked to enter a number between 19 and 99 that corresponds to a beats per minute (bpm) value. This is due to the KMR display only being able to handle two-digit numbers. A conversion table is therefore included in the handbook where you'll find that 19 = 29 bpm, 20 = 30 bpm, 21 = 33 bpm and so on. I didn't like this compromise as it also forces you to be satisfied with a tempo resolution of between 1 and 5 bpm when using the KMR internal clock. However, it's not a problem when an external clock is used as the resolution is infinite.
Moving on to further Sequence mode information, Data 1 asks for the sequence step that is to be programmed (step 00-99), the bar number and the fraction of that bar. The best way I found to programme the last two pieces of data is to set the KMR for Internal Clock Record and punch in the tempo. This clock mode pre-supposes that a footswitch is connected, so instead of having to work out which bars and on what beat you want an event to occur, you just press the Start button (a red LED flashes to indicate the tempo) and as the music plays, you hit the footswitch each time you want an event to happen.
Starting from sequence step 0, the first three steps could read like this: