CosmicBreak KDJ-PLUS Manual

2012/11/28

Contents

(1) About the KDJ-PLUS

(2) Screen Summary

(3) Song File Playback

1. Open a song (.gam) file
2. Play/stop the song file
3. Other controls

(4) Making Sound

1. Playing the keyboard
2. Changing voice
3. Playing drums
4. Using the arpeggiator

(5) Song Creation

1. Tracks
2. Note data

(6) Patterns
1. Recording
2. Note data
3. Adjusting note data
4. Editing functions
5. Drum input
6. Pattern settings
7. Changing patterns
8. Muting tracks

(7) Combining Patterns

1. Arranging patterns
2. Setting loop point

(8) Voice Creation

1. Selecting voices
2. Editing synth sounds
3. Editing drum sounds

(9) Other Functions

1. Master effect

(10) Reference
1. Pattern panel
2. Track panel

Copyright(C) 2012 CyberStep, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 About the KDJ-PLUS
KDJ-PLUS
The KDJ-PLUS is a tracker style music creation tool that may be used to
create a wide variety of different music.

Features
* Includes a versatile and easy to program synthesizer that may be used
to generate chiptunes style sounds as well as a variety of other advanced
synth instruments.

* Uses a tracker style sequencer, which is perfect for retro video game
style music production, but may also be used to create music of a wide
variety of genres in conjunction with the synth.

* Phrases, patterns, synth patches, and entire songs may all be copied and
pasted freely, speeding up the creation process.

* Completed songs may be shared as BGMs in CyberStep's games.

(Currently compatible with CosmicBreak and GetAmped 2.)

 Screen Summary
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1. Change edit mode

Changes between the pattern edit screen and the voice edit screen.
(Shortcut keys: [F1], [F2] )

2. Song panel
Settings that affect the entire song.

3. Pattern panel
Contains pattern selection controls and pattern settings, as well as
recording/input controls.
4. Command panel
Contains buttons for opening and saving files, copying and pasting, etc.

5. Track panel
Contains buttons for adding/deleting tracks, and track settings.

6. Editing panel
When in pattern editing mode, note data of the current pattern is
displayed here.

7. Timeline panel
Displays the sequence of patterns for the entire song.

8. Transport panel
Contains buttons for playback, looping, etc. (Press [F5] to play/stop)

9. Keyboard panel
Musical keyboard for playing and inputting notes.

10. Voice panel/Drum set panel

When in voice editing mode, the parameters of the current patch
(a.k.a. voice, timbre) are displayed here.
 Song File Playback
Try opening a demo song and playing it back in the KDJ-PLUS.

1. Open a song (.gam) file

Press the open button, or [CTRL+O], to bring up the open file dialogue.
Files with the ".gam" file extension are song files that may be played back
using the KDJ-PLUS.

2. Play/stop the song file

Use the buttons on the transport panel to start and stop playback. Playback
may also be started/stopped by using the [F5] key. Using shortcut keys will
greatly increase your productivity and speed up the creation process.
3. Other controls

There are various other useful buttons on the transport panel:

Rewind to beginning

Click to return to the beginning of the song.

Fast forward

Press during playback to fast forward through the song.

(Shortcut key: [F4] )

Pattern loop

Activate in order to make the current pattern loop during playback.

Useful for looping a single pattern while working on it.
(Shortcut key: [F6] )

 Making Sound
Try making some basic sounds with the KDJ-PLUS.

1. Playing the keyboard

Use the keys on the keyboard panel to play notes.

The keyboard may be played by clicking or by using your computer's keyboard:

* Click on a key to play it.
* Press a key on your keyboard to play the corrosponding note.
(The Z key is C, and the other keys move up the scale as shown above.)

Click the arrow keys to the left of the keyboard to change octaves.

2. Changing voice

By default, playing the KDJ-PLUS as described above will give you a simple beep.
This is because the first voice, "FAMI PULSE75", is selected. You may change
this sound by clicking the arrows next to VOICE on the track panel to cycle through
different voices. You may also use the PAN, TUNE, VOL, and EFX sliders to adjust
the sound.
3. Playing drums

To play drum sounds, you must select a drum track.

Click the arrow keys shown below, or use the [TAB] key to cycle through tracks in
the current song until you reach a drum track.

When a drum track has been selected, the keyboard panel will change to a drum
panel, as shown below:

Each drum track contains 8 drum samples (sounds). They may be played back in
the same manner as the synthesizer (keyboard) tracks.

4. Using the arpeggiator

You may select an arpeggio pattern using the buttons shown below. This will cause
a series of notes to be played back while holding down a single key.
 Song Creation
Songs on the KDJ-PLUS are made up of building blocks called patterns. Patterns are
combined on the timeline to make a complete song.

1. Tracks

A track is a sequence of notes using a single voice. There are two different types
of tracks: synth tracks, and drum tracks. In the image below, the track on the
left is a synth track, and the track on the right is a drum track.

As you can see, synth tracks contain note data (melodies), and drum tracks contain
rhythm data (drum beats).

If you need to add more voices (i.e. instruments) to your song, simply add more
tracks. The KDJ-PLUS can handle up to 20 tracks.

2. Note data

The image below shows an example pattern consisting of 5 tracks.

From the left, there are 2 synth tracks, a drum track, another synth
track, and then another drum track. Playback starts at the top of the
pattern and moves downward, playing one line at a time. Each line of
the pattern is 1 sixteenth note long, meaning that each 4 lines
represents one quarter note's worth of time.

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 Patterns
Let's try making a pattern!

First, make sure that you are on the pattern edit screen:

1. Recording

To enter recording mode, press the REC button or your space bar. Press again to exit
recording mode.

When in recording mode, all notes that you play with your mouse and/or keyboard will be
input to the pattern as note data.

2. Note data

Try playing some notes while in recording mode. You will see them appear as shown below:

In the above example, "C4" means that the note is the note C4 (C of the 4th octave). The
"200" indicates a velocity value of 200 (velocity refers to the strength or loudness of a
note, and may be adjusted to make individual notes louder or softer). The final "0" indicates
that there is no arpeggio pattern in use (remember, you can change the arpeggio pattern
with the buttons to the right of the keyboard panel).
You may insert rests by pushing the R key on your computer keyboard. Without a rest, the
note will continue to play until there is another note on the same track, so make sure to
put in rests if you want to cut a note off without starting another note.

3. Adjusting note data

To adjust note data after it has been input, select the value that you would like to change
and press + or - on your computer keyboard. You do not have to have REC enabled in order
to do this.

If you select a range of notes, you may adjust them all at once.

4. Editing functions

Various commands for quick editing are available:

Copy & Paste (CTRL+C, CTRL+V)

Use Copy & Paste to quickly duplicate repeating sections of your song.

Select All (CTRL+A)

Hit Ctrl+A to quickly select all data in a track.

Copy Pattern

Copies the entire pattern. Select another pattern and hit paste to create a duplicate
pattern. Useful when you need two patterns that are exactly the same except for one
part.
5. Drum input

When inputting drums, the eight lanes represent the eight drum sounds of the voice. You
may input notes using your computer keyboard, or by clicking on the lanes with your mouse.

6. Pattern settings

Swing and Rows may be set for each pattern. Increasing Swing (a.k.a. shuffle) changes the
groove of the pattern by moving every other 16th note forward slightly. Rows determines the
length of the pattern in 16th notes, e.g. 32 rows = 2 measures in 4/4 time.

7. Changing patterns

The arrow buttons on the pattern panel may be used to change the current pattern.
A single song may contain up to 32 different patterns numbered 0 through 31.

When changing patterns, keep the following things in mind:

- Track settings are saved on a per pattern basis. This means that you may set a given
track to a piano sound in one pattern, and the same track to a horn sound in a different
pattern, etc.

- Changing patterns also changes the currently selected pattern block in the song
timeline. This is how the timeline is edited; by selecting each block, then changing it to
the appropriate pattern. However, be careful not to accidentally change blocks that you
do not want to change when going back to edit previous patterns.
* Pay attention to what pattern block you have selected:

8. Muting tracks

Mute a track in order to silence it during playback. The mute function is useful for
silencing unneeded tracks while editing. Mute settings are saved on a per pattern block
basis, so muting can also be used to create simple variations of a single pattern.

 Combining Patterns
Once you've made a few patterns, line them up on the timeline into a song.

1. Arranging patterns

In order to arrange your patterns into a sequence, select each block on the timeline and
change it to the pattern that you want to use. Blocks may be selected by clicking or by
using the mouse wheel. Add and delete blocks using the + and - buttons.

2. Setting loop point

Adjust the LOOP POS setting to select a point in the song to loop back to after the song is
over. This is useful if your song has an intro section that you do not want to include in the
main loop.

 Voice Creation
Voices (a.k.a. synth patches/timbres) may be edited on the voice edit screen. You may
quickly switch between the voice edit screen and pattern edit screen using [F1] and [F2].

Edited synth voices (and drumsets) are saved along with your song. Use Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V
while on the voice edit screen to copy and paste voice settings. Copied voice settings
remain on the clipboard even if you load a different song, so you may copy and paste voices
from one song to another.

1. Selecting voices

When editing a voice, you will be editing the voice selected for use on the current track.
If the current track is a synth track, you will be editing synth sounds, and if it is a drum track,
you will be editing drum sounds.
2. Editing synth sounds

Typical synth parameters such as synthesis mode, waveform, amplitude envelope, etc., may
all be modified. Detailed explanations of synthesis related terminology are beyond the scope
of this manual, but should be easy to find online.

Name: Assigns a name for the voice.

LV: Adjusts overall volume of the voice.
V: Enables/disables velocity.
* Make sure to enable this if you want to use velocity data on your tracks!

SYNTH Overall synth settings

MODE: Selects the synthesis mode. Various modes ranging from a simple dual osc
setup to FM, ring modulation, etc., are available.
P1/P2: Controls for up to 2 parameters of synth mode. Change depending on mode.

VCO1/VCO2 Oscillator settings

WAV: Selects the waveform.
A,D,S,R: Adjusts attack, decay, sustain, and release of the amplitude envelope.
TRNS: Transpose the osc up or down. 12 semitones = 1 octave.
KSR: Adjusts key scaling rate for amplitude.

NOISE Noise generator settings

BITS: Selects bit depth of noise.
MUL: Enable to multiply noise x osc waveform instead of adding them together.
LV: Adjusts volume of noise.
COLOR: Adjusts color of noise.
DECAY: Adjusts noise decay length. Use the switch to change decay shape.

VCF Filter settings

TYPE: Selects type of filter.
FREQ: Adjusts filter frequency.
RESO: Adjusts filter resonance.

GLIDE Glide (portamento) settings

TYPE: Selects glide shape, and whether all notes trigger glide or only legato notes.
DEPTH Adjusts glide depth.

EFX1/EFX2 Effect settings

TYPE: Selects type of effect. Standard effects such as reverb, dist, etc., are available.
P1/P2/P3: Controls for up to 3 effect parameters. Change depending on effect.

MODULATOR Modulator settings

1/2/3/4: Up to four independent modulators may be used per voice.
TYPE Selects type of modulator.
DST: Selects destination to modulate.
AMNT: Adjusts amount of modulation.
A/D/S/R: Adjusts attack, decay, sustain, and release of the modulation envelope.
3. Editing drum sounds

Each drum voice can hold 8 different drum sounds (samples). Drum voices are edited in the same
way as synth voices. Two drum sounds can be edited at a time; select which ones to edit by
clicking on the 1 2/3 4/5 6/7 8 buttons.

1:DR/2:SD Drum sample settings

WAV: Selects the waveform (sample).
LEVEL: Adjusts the volume of the drum sample.
PAN: Adjusts the pan of the drum sample.
TUNE: Tunes the drum sample up or down
DECAY: Adjusts drum decay length. Use the switch to change decay shape.
MUTEG: Selects mute group. Drums in the same mute group will mute each other.
Use to have closed hihats mute open hihats and so forth.
EFX: Selects which of the two EFX buses to run the drum sample through.

NOISE Noise generator settings
* This section is the same as it is for synth voices, but there is one noise
generator per drum sample.

MODULATOR Modulator settings

EFX1/EFX2 Effect settings
* These sections are the same as they are for synth voices.

 Other Functions
1. Master effect

A single master reverb send effect may be chosen for the entire song. This effect may be
selected from the song panel via the MASTER FX setting.

The EFX parameter on the track panel may be used to adjust the send amount for each
track independently.
 Reference
Extra information about the pattern and track panel controls.

1. Pattern panel

(1) Pattern select

Selects pattern. Patterns are numbered 0 through 31. Also used to assign a pattern to the
currently selected sequence block.

(2) Rows

Determines the length of the pattern in 16th notes, e.g. 32 rows = 2 measures in 4/4 time.

(3) Swing

Changes the groove of the pattern by moving every other 16th note forward slightly.

(4) REC (Spacebar)

Enables/disables REC mode.

(5) Note length

Determines how far the cursor moves after a note is input. Remember, in order to actually
cut off a note, you need to input either another note or a rest.
 2. Track panel

(1) Select track

Selects which track to edit. Tracks may also be selected using the left and right arrow keys,
or by holding shift and spinning the mouse wheel.

(2) VOICE

Selects a synth voice or drumset for use on the current track. Voices may be select from
a list by switching to the voice edit screen.

(3) PAN

Adjusts the stereo pan of the current track. Does not affect drum tracks, as on drum tracks
each drum sound's pan is set individually on the voice edit screen

(4) TUNE

Tunes the voice of the current track slightly up or down. Does not affect drum tracks. Useful
for detuning two identical tracks to create a unison effect.

(5) VOL

Adjusts the volume of the current track.

(6) EFX

Adjusts the master effect send amount for the current track.

(7) +

Adds a new track. A dialogue will be displayed asking if you want to add a synth track or a
drum track. The new track will be created next to the currently selected track.

(8) -

Deletes the currently selected track. Adding and deleting tracks affects all patterns (e.g. the
entire song), so be careful not to delete an empty track in one pattern that you are still using
in another pattern.