Plugin instruments

A plugin track plays a software instrument: your track’s MIDI goes in and the plugin makes the sound. This chapter takes the eight instruments in the manual’s plugin appendix one tab at a time, so you can see what each control does and the range it covers.

You don’t need the paid Pro Pack for this chapter. The manual lists none of these eight as Pro Pack plugins. The one chapter that does need it is The Pro Pack, at the end of the guide, which also covers the instrument the manual ties to it, AIR Fabric Select. Plugins you buy separately aren’t covered at all: the manual points you to each plugin’s own user guide.

Each panel in the sections that follow is one of those tabs. The small word under a parameter’s name is the group it sits in on the screen, which tells apart two controls with the same name, such as the Attack of a filter envelope and of an amp envelope.

Bassline is AIR’s take on the classic mono synth, with a modern edge. You choose the oscillator’s shape, blend in a sub-octave and a fifth, push it with the boost section, then carve it with a low-pass and a high-pass filter. Drive, chorus, delay, compression and the Hype effect are built in.

Electric is AIR’s emulation of classic electric pianos. You start with the emulated pickup: its type and where it sits relative to the tines. On top of that you can add a bell tone and a noise layer, then run the result through tremolo, tube drive, chorus, delay and spring reverb.

Hype is AIR’s modern dual-oscillator synth. It’s built for fast results: the Macro tab puts six preset-specific controls next to one-knob amounts for the filter and the main effects, so you can reshape a preset without digging. When you want more, the other tabs open up the envelopes, the effects themselves and the MIDI control.

TubeSynth emulates classic vintage analogue polysynths. AIR based it on its Vacuum Pro desktop synth plugin and added five integrated effects: chorus, delay, reverb, compressor and Hype. You get two variable oscillators and a sub oscillator, a low-pass filter, three envelopes and two LFOs.

DrumSynth is a family of AIR plugins modelled on classic drum machines, using several synthesis types and built-in effects to make modern drum sounds. You can use it two ways: one plugin per track for each drum you want, or DrumSynth:Multi, which gives you all the sounds from a single plugin.

As individual plugins, the drum types are Clap, Crash, HiHat, Kick, Perc, Ride, Snare and Tom. They all share the same three tabs. The manual calls the first one Drum Sound, and on the screen it carries the drum’s name, such as Clap; the other two are Trans/Dist and EQ/Comp. The first tab has up to eight extra knobs chosen for that particular sound, so what they do changes with the drum you load.

To switch the built-in Transient, Distortion, EQ and Compressor effects on or off from any tab, tap the buttons on the right of the touchscreen under FX.

In DrumSynth:Multi, the first eight tabs hold the same parameters as the individual plugins. Tap a tab repeatedly to cycle it through the Drum Sound, Trans/Dist and EQ/Comp views. After those come two tabs of its own: Send FX and Mixer / FX / Sends.

The Mixer / FX / Sends tab mixes the individual drums and sets up their effects. It has three views, which you reach from the tab at the foot of the screen.

Mellotron is AIR’s software version of the classic tape keyboard, including copies of the original tape samples in clean and dirty versions. The Model tab picks the tape and how worn it sounds, down to the noise the keys make. The other two tabs add colour and space.

Each effect has its own on/off button: the buttons on the right of the screen, or the one at the top right of the effect’s section.

Solina is AIR’s software version of the classic string synthesizer. You build the sound from six voices — Contra Bass, Cello, Viola, Violin, Trumpet and Horn — each with its own level, panning and octave, then run them through the ensemble effect.

Dual decides how the bass and upper voices share the keyboard. On, both play on every key whatever the octave. Off, they split, so the bass voices play in the lower octaves and the upper voices in the higher ones.

WayOutWare Odyssey is a software recreation of the classic analogue Odyssey synth, using WayOutWare’s circuit modelling and signal processing to capture the character of the original. It has two voltage-controlled oscillators, an audio mixer, a voltage-controlled filter, a high-pass filter and a voltage-controlled amplifier, with an LFO, a sample and hold generator and two envelope generators for modulation.

Many values are shown in volts. That’s how the plugin displays these controls, so don’t be surprised to see V next to Coarse, Fine, VCF Cutoff or the ADSR’s Sustain.