Storm 3 Env 3
Storm 3 Env 3
Version 3.0
Lionel Tirant
Anthony Garcia
Arnaud Aune
Laurent Eyraud
Renaud Chassande
Sound Design:
Jean-Michel Blanchet
Graphics:
Mickael Acoca
Yannick Bonnefoy
Manual:
Frédéric Brun
Tom Healy
Yuji Sano
Takashi Uesugi
Sven Steglich
Till Pape
Gilles Pommereuil
David Poncet
Information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Arturia. The soft-
ware described in this manual is provided under the terms of a license agreement or non-disclosure agreement. The software license agree-
ment specifies the terms and conditions for its lawful use. No part of this manual may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any pur-
pose other than purchaser's personal use, without the express written permission of ARTURIA.
Other products, logos or company names quoted in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
First steps
INSTALLATION............................................................................................................................5
REGISTRATION............................................................................................................................6
QUICK START............................................................................................................................11
COMPOSITION ASSISTANT..............................................................................................................23
Basic Use
THE EXPLORER..........................................................................................................................27
THE RACK ...............................................................................................................................29
THE MIXING TABLE......................................................................................................................31
THE SEQUENCER........................................................................................................................35
KEPLER ...................................................................................................................................39
STATIC MODE COMPOSITION..........................................................................................................41
USING SAMPLES..........................................................................................................................43
LOADING-SAVING .......................................................................................................................47
AUDIO EXPORT ..........................................................................................................................51
Advanced Use
MIDI CONTROL AND SYNCHRONIZATION ............................................................................................55
IMPORTING MIDI FILES..................................................................................................................57
THE PIANO ROLL........................................................................................................................59
REWIRE ..................................................................................................................................67
THE HALL ................................................................................................................................69
CONFIGURATION .......................................................................................................................75
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS................................................................................................................79
Instruments
SYNTHESIZER BASICS...................................................................................................................81
ARSENIC..................................................................................................................................83
BASS 52...................................................................................................................................89
EQUINOXE................................................................................................................................92
ORPHEUS ................................................................................................................................95
GMSynth................................................................................................................................101
SHADOW ...............................................................................................................................104
DRUM MACHINE BASICS...............................................................................................................111
TSUNAMI ...............................................................................................................................113
METEOR ................................................................................................................................119
PSION ...................................................................................................................................121
PUMA ...................................................................................................................................123
HORK....................................................................................................................................125
SAMPLE MODULES BASICS............................................................................................................127
EZTRACK................................................................................................................................128
H3OPLUS................................................................................................................................132
SCRATCH ...............................................................................................................................137
Effects
EFFECTS BASICS........................................................................................................................139
CHORUS.................................................................................................................................141
COMPRESSOR...........................................................................................................................142
DISTORSION ............................................................................................................................146
DUAL DELAYS...........................................................................................................................147
FLANGER ...............................................................................................................................150
LPFILTER................................................................................................................................151
REVERB..................................................................................................................................152
RING MOD ..............................................................................................................................154
SEQ FILTER ............................................................................................................................155
VOCODER...............................................................................................................................157
INSTALLATION
Warning: before running the Storm Music Studio installer, please temporarily disable any virus protection utilities
running in the background, as they may cause problems with the installer.
Minimum requirements
In order to use STORM Music Studio 3.0, you must have a computer equipped with the following:
WINDOWS Mac OS X
• Pentium III 600 MHz • G3 800 MHz
• Windows 98 SE / 2000 / XP • Mac OS X version 10.3.1 or later recom-
mended
• 256 MB of RAM
• Any DirectX, ASIO compatible soundcard, or CoreAudio for Mac OSX
Installation
Storm 3.0 is shipped with 2 CD's. The first CD-ROM contains the Windows installer whereas the second CD con-
tains the Mac installer.
WINDOWS:
Mac OS X:
Technical support
Before calling or writing to our technical support staff, be sure to do the following:
• Make sure that you have registered your license number with Arturia.
• Check to see if the information you need is not already contained in:
• The Support section of our web site, located at: http://www.arturia.com/en/support.lasso
• Arturia Forums: http://forums.arturia.com
• Storm Music NewsGroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/storm_music
• Have your serial number and key available to you. Write down the hardware and software configuration
you use with Storm (processor, RAM, OS, sound card).
• Choose one the following methods to get in touch with Arturia:
• Web: http://www.arturia.com/en/techsupport.html
• E-mail: [email protected]
• Fax: +33 (0)4 38 02 05 25
Remark
Registration only concerns the full version of Storm. It unlocks access to the software and allows regis-
tered users to benefit from supplementary services such as downloading updates and new modules.
If you are using a trial version of Storm, or a “light” version that you received bundled with a sound card
for example, this procedure does not concern you, unless you upgrade to the full version. Buying proce-
dures for the software and getting a license number can be found in the Help > About Storm menu.
To have full and definitive use of Storm, you need to register with Arturia. This registration will allow you to ob-
tain an unlock-key which is essential to continue using Storm after your first 20 tries. Here is the procedure to
follow:
When the program is launched, a window will ask you to enter the license number of your program, your first
name and your last name.
Recopy the number on the sticker on the case of the Storm CD-ROM, or the one sent to you by e-mail by Arturia
technical support. This number is essential in the registration procedure.
For the users installing Storm in English but for whom it is not their mother tongue, be careful not to in-
vert your First Name and Last Name:
ENGLISH FRANCAIS DEUTSCH DUTCH ITALIANO ESPAÑOL PORTUGÊS
First Name Prénom Vorname Voornaam Prenome Nombre de pila Prenome
Last Name Nom Nachname Achternaam Cognome Apellido Sobrenome
First possibility
A form will appear asking you to provide certain information on top of your first name and last name: address, e-
mail address, etc.
Click on this option if you have an Internet connection and it is currently active. In this case the registra-
tion is automatic and you have nothing else to do.
In this case, the Arturia server will send the program its key which is essential for Storm to run.
During the connection, the only information received by Arturia is that which you have previously en-
tered (license number, name, first name, address, e-mail). Nothing else is touched on your hard drive.
Click on this option if the computer on which you are installing Storm does not have an Internet connec-
tion.
The following screen will suggest that you save a text file that you can print and send to Arturia. Your
unlock key will be sent to you within 4 days of the receipt of your mail. You can also send this file by fax
or e-mail in order to get your unlock key sooner (postal address, fax and e-mail address are indicated in
the file).
When you have received your key, you can then relaunch Storm, and at startup, select the second choice
described underneath: You already have your unlock key.
This is the case if you are reinstalling your software or you have received your unlock key by postal mail. You just
need to provide this key to unlock Storm and have all its functionalities. Attention, this key will work on one
computer with a precise operating system. If reinstalling Storm, you will need to get another key from Arturia
if in the mean time you have changed computer or operating system.
For this click on the Later button. You have 20 tries before the software is locked and will continually ask for the
unlock key. If this happens, the only choice you will have is to click on the Now button. We advise that you regis-
ter as soon as possible, especially if you count on doing so by postal mail if you don't have an Internet connec-
tion. Once the procedure is fully complete, it will be proposed that you save a file with all of the registration in-
formation. We highly recommend that you save and print this just in the case you might need to reinstall the ap-
plication.
A little jargon
To install Storm, the software needs 2 numbers that while constructed in a similar manner do not have
the same use. To avoid confusion:
• The license number is on a white sticker stamped with the Arturia logo, and stuck to the installa-
tion CD-ROM case. This number is to identify you as the user (and owner, as stipulated in the li-
cense agreement) of Storm.
• The unlock key, which is calculated during the installation, and which will depend on the license
number, is used to protect the license number. It prevents the installation of Storm on several
machines or different operating systems, when outside of the cases agreed in the license.
In this chapter, you are going to compose your first song using the basic functions of Storm.
Building a studio, playing in real time, recording settings and saving compositions are operations that will no
longer hold any secrets after you have read this first chapter.
Creating a Studio
When you launch Storm, you will find yourself in front of the studio screen.
In the central part of the screen, you can see two vertical sections of a dark color, separated by metallic bars.
This is the rack in which you will place the effects and instruments that you have chosen.
In the section on the left called the explorer, you will see a number of tabs which present resources that can be
loaded into the studio. The first tab opens the virtual instrument library. Use the scroll bar on the right of the
explorer to navigate.
The second tab opens the effects library. Again browse with the scroll bar.
The main idea of Storm is the creation of a compositional environment comparable to that of profession-
al composers. In the studio, the professionals put synthesizers, drum machines, effects, etc, on a rack
(the metallic structure in the studio). The studio is created in relation to the style of music that they
wish to create, just like Storm.
• From the library on the left, choose the sound module called Arsenic and using “drag and drop”, put it
onto the virtual rack. It will take the first empty space in the rack.
• In the same way, next choose the Meteor and H3Oplus modules. You have just built the first part of your
studio.
• From the library on the left, choose the sound effect called Dual Delays. As you have previously done,
drag and drop it onto the virtual rack.
• Repeat the same operation for the Chorus and Reverb effects.
You can drop as many instrument modules (or effects) as you wish to the rack.
As mentioned above, Storm allows an unlimited number of synthesizer and effect modules in the studio
but to be more precise: the capacity of modules is directly related to the power of the processor in your
computer. The more powerful the processor, the more modules you can place! Certain modules are more
demanding than others (an icon placed on the right of each module indicates the amount of CPU power
used).
And there it is, you have just built your first studio. Now let's go on to the second phase, composition in real-
time.
At first sight, the screen you have in front of you looks fairly complicated. There are lots of buttons, sliders, di-
als, and geometric shapes. But don't worry, everything is simpler than it seems and soon all its secrets will be re-
vealed.
• Start by clicking on the arrow located at the top left of the screen. This is the PLAY button that com-
mands all of the sound modules. You will hear a looped melody.
• Click on the button to activate the selection of the loop. Next set the loop length by dragging
the green bar above the sequencer tracks.
• In the lower zone, there is a stereo mixing table. This table controls the output of different sound mod-
ules. Click on the MUTE button of the master. The sound stops immediately. Click again and try out the
various sliders that control the output levels of the sound modules.
• Click on the MUTE button of modules 2, 3 and 4, we are now going to learn a little about our first instru-
ment: Arsenic.
• The zone on the left lets you select the current pattern. When you click on the numbers and letters of
the pattern selector, you change the melodic theme played. Try to program themes A11, A12, B21 in suc-
cession.
Later on, you will be able to compose your own patterns, but for the moment, let's see how to manage the sound
of this module by using one or two effects.
Using effects
On the left hand limit of the mixing table, you will see 3 icons corresponding to the three states of the mixing ta-
ble. This will allow you to access the dosing of effects, equalization and detachment of the mixing table.
• Click on the potentiometer to dose the output from the synthesizer going to the effect.
• Keep the button pressed down and move the mouse up.
• To have a better idea of how it works, increase the amount of the delay on the left loud speaker by click-
ing on the LEFT feedback dial of the left channel.
• The number 1 instrument is still the only one turned on. Thus, it is the only one whose sound you can
hear. Now let's try to apply the second effect to the sound. For this choose Chorus in the second display
and click on the potentiometer to increase the effect dosage in the sound from Arsenic.
Linking effects
You can link the sound effects between each other. So for example, the output from a synthesizer can be
sent to the delay which will then be directed to the chorus and then on to the reverb. It is nonetheless
essential that you avoid re-injecting an effect into itself. This will bring about a saturation of the sound.
It is possible to have the effect sends on the rack, on the right of each instrument and effect module. To
do this go to the menu View > rack > effect control. Opening these effect sends is the same as in the
mixing table extension.
• To have the equalizer section appear, click on the icon on the left of the mixing table.
• On the equalizer in the Arsenic section, try turning the different potentiometers to appreciate the
changes reflected in the sound from the synthesizer.
The equalizer section lets you increase or diminish high, medium and low frequencies. The FREQ poten-
tiometer finely sets the position of the medium frequency band (deeper or higher), for more precision in
the equalization.
• Lets start by opening the outputs of all of the modules. To do this, click on the MUTE buttons of the 2nd
and 3rd instruments on the mixing table.
• Click on the button on the far left of the control bar which sets the immediate return of the cursor to the
beginning of the song. You can equally click on the upper zone of the sequencer, where the graduations
by bar and group are displayed to bring the cursor back to the desired position.
• Click on the button. you should see a loop bar appear which corresponds to the loop program-
ming mode. Drag this bar across the whole of group 1 so that the cursor runs indefinitely (in a loop) over
this group.
• To record, click on the button which is placed on the control bar at the top left of the screen.
• Click on the play button . The cursor crossing the sequencer underneath sweeps the squares of the
sequencer causing them to change color. This signifies that the manipulations made during the bars cor-
responding to each of the squares are recorded.
• To be convinced, modify potentiometers and patterns during the recording. While re-crossing the modi-
fied bars, you will notice that the controllers move in the same manner that they did when you first mod-
ified them. Small horizontal lines will also appear on the sequencer lines: they indicate a pattern change
on a module or the recording of notes in MIDI.
• When you have created a composition that you wish to save, click on the save icon in the toolbar, or
use the command Save in the File menu. A window will open and suggest a name, destination, and for-
mat for the file to be saved.
• When you are in the desired folder, click on Save. Your first Storm song is now on your hard drive.
If you use the Export option, a window will prompt you for the desired audio format and which section you wish
to export.
• To make a recording, you must open the recorder by clicking on the recorder icon which is found in the
toolbar at the top of the screen.
• The recorder is now open. It is conceived in a manner which allows the recording of one instrument, or
the recording of numerous instruments independently of one another and the recording of the master mix
(all studio tracks together). We are going to record the sound from synthesizer 1. To do this, click on the
first button of the recorder to activate the recording of this track.
• The recorder can perform a recording fixed between two bar numbers. Select a loop length by clicking on
the button or select the parts of the sequencer tracks that you wish to record. Next click on the
Record button at the bottom of the recorder to begin the recording.
• The recording begins and a dialog indicates the advancement of the recording. This will automatically
stop at the end of the selection. A tape with the name of the module appears in the Current Song folder
in the sample library.
Recording formats
There are two save formats in Storm: the formats WAV, and AIFF. These formats are completely differ-
ent to the .stm internal format. For the first two it is only audio which is saved, whereas the .stm for-
mat memorizes the movements of controllers, patterns, sliders, etc.).
• Instrument number 3, named H3Oplus, allows us to play samples in a loop. Begin by using drag and drop
to move what you have just recorded to the first track of the synthesizer.
• Mute the other instruments by clicking on MUTE buttons 1 and 2 of the mixing table. You are now hearing
a loop of the first 4 bars of the sample you have just recorded.
• We will now add some more samples by using to the sample library. Open the sample library by clicking
on the Samples tab in the explorer.
• Storm is provided with a base of several hundreds of samples in the sample library. Click on the folder In-
stalled sample kits. Here you have a choice between a wide range of instruments. Select the library
hip_hop/rhythm. This library contains typical Hip Hop samples. By drag and drop, move the sample
called hip_hop_drums onto track 2 of H30plus.
• Before finishing, you may wish to discover the real-time time-stretching options that Storm offers. To do
this, increase the tempo on the transport bar. You could also try modifying the tone of samples by using
the Kepler module. Click on the to use this module.
• Play with the tempo, the sample speeds are increased or decreased without modifying their height.
About samples
You can import samples into Storm in the following formats: WAV, AIFF or MP3. The system will handle
all of these file formats in the same manner.
Storm automatically adapts the tempo and tone of each imported sample to the tone and tempo of
the current studio. The automatic sample tempo modification is called time-stretching. The automatic
sample tone modification is called pitch-shifting.
• Discover the Storm environment: the synthesizers, the effects, the mixing table and the sequencer. This
will allow you to quickly understand the general manner in which Storm works.
• Use the composition assistant: you can pick an assistant in the style of your choice (Dance, House, Hip
Hop, etc.). This assistant will be very useful if you have never composed before or you wish to compose
in a style that you are not familiar with.
• Open a song: demonstration songs are provided with the program. They will allow you to see what you
can do with the software and give you a few good examples of professional quality.
• Compose freely: pick your own instruments and effects and go for it.
If you don't wish to see this window on startup, simply click on Don't show this window when Storm is
launched (you can also do this from the Settings > General menu).
• You can choose to use a composition assistant in the startup window described above.
• You can also activate it by selecting it in the menu File > Composition Assistant.
When the Wizard is launched, it offers you a certain number of musical styles represented by icons: House, Elec-
tro Pop, R'n'B, Hard Rock, Tribal Trance, Ambient, Drum & Bass, Jazz Funk, Dub/Reggae, Dance, Hip Hop (other
composition assistant styles can be downloaded from our web site).
Choose the style of music that you want by clicking on the icons. You will see information relative to the select-
ed tutorial: the style of music, the number of steps for the composition of the song, a musical extract (click on
the “speaker” icon) and a reduced image of the studio which will be proposed for your song.
Once have decided on the musical style, click on the Start button to begin composing your song.
At the top of the window, a bar indicates how far you have advanced in the composition of the song:
• The sections of the song are identified by a title, and are numbered. They are of different lengths: the
bigger the section, the more programming steps there are.
• As the Assistant continually advances, the sections will be colored, meaning that the steps have been
completed. You will find the same titles and colors in the Storm sequencer. The bar of the Assistant is a
miniature sequencer.
• You can move to the different parts of the song already completed by moving the red cursor above the
desired section or by clicking on Previous.
On the left, a series of icons tell you what type of step you are currently on:
Choose a pattern
Listen to a passage
To exit the Wizard, you can perform any of the following steps:
After one of the above steps, the program will ask you if you wish to save the position of the Assistant. This is
not systematically saved with the Storm file that you are composing:
• If you answer no, you will lose the ability to be able to work on your song again with the Assistant. To
later work on the song, you're on your own with the sequencer...!
• If you answer yes, you will be able to do this. When you open the Storm file, you will be able to continue
where you left off or even go back along the steps.
The Explorer is found on the left of your virtual studio. It contains all of the base modules for the creation of mu-
sic: instruments, effects, samples.
It contains four sections. To go from one to another, just click on the corresponding tab.
• The instruments
These are the “sound generators” for your songs.
• The effects
These let you modify the sound from an instrument. All of the instruments and effects are described in
detail in Chapters 4 and 5 of this manual.
• The ReWire instruments
If Storm has been launched as a ReWire Mixer, and if ReWire Instruments are present in your system, they
will be listed here. See the ReWire chapter for more information.
• The sample bank
This lists all of the samples that you can use in the Storm sample readers, as well as the audio tracks that
you have recorded. See the Chapter Using samples for more information.
This sections holds a particular toolbar, identical to the one contained in the section on Hall Navigation.
To use a module in your song, you must insert it into the rack. For this, drag and drop it to the desired location,
or click on the icon .
Note that you can hide the Explorer by selecting the menu: View > Explorer > Hide.
The Rack allows you to stock instruments and effects that you are going to use in your song, just like a rack in
the real world. The main difference is that there is no limit aside from the power of your computer, to the num-
ber of effects and instruments that you can use !
The Rack
To add a module to the rack, just drag and drop from the Explorer. You can also select a module in the Explorer
and click on the button. It is thus possible to place the modules where you want on the Rack simply by drag
and drop.
To remove a module present on the Rack, perform a right-click (control-click for Macintosh) on it and select Re-
move module. If you have no space left to add more modules, right click anywhere on the Rack and select Add a
line or Add a column. If your Rack is too big to see its entirety on the screen, you can move using the scroll bar
or the Minirack (see following section).
You can see the effect send controls by selecting the menu: View > Rack > Effect controls. This will make an ef-
fect settings section appear on the right of each module, identical to the one described in the chapter Mixing Ta-
ble. You can use either use this one or the section of the mixing table to the same ends.
The Minirack gives you an overview of your Rack. All of the modules that you have installed in the rack will be
represented in a reduced scale.
It also contains a section showing the currently visible part of the Rack. You can drag this selection to quickly see
another part of the Rack.
Finally, if you connect a module to an effect, the link between the two will temporarily blink in the Minirack.
If necessary you can hide the Minirack by clicking either on the arrow on the right (which will give more space to
the mixing table), or the arrow above (which will make the Explorer bigger).
The mixing table is found at the bottom of the composition window. It controls the volume for each of the in-
struments and effects in your song as well as the overall volume. You also have a semi-parametric equalizer
available for each track.
The mixing table is composed of three sections. By default, only the volume is visible, but two buttons on the
left allow access to the other sections. The button opens the effect send section, while the opens the
equalizers. The third button, opens the mixing table in an independent window.
You can also hide it by clicking on the arrow pointing down above it.
These options are also available in the menu View > Mixing table.
It is also possible for you to change the order of the sections on the mixing table, simply drag them where you
want. This at the same time changes the track order on the sequencer.
This section is composed of a section for each instrument and effect contained in your song. If there is not
enough space to display all of them, a scrolling bar appears below. Completely to the right you will see a section
called MASTER, which corresponds to the global volume of your song.
• At the bottom, the name of the instrument. You can rename it by double-clicking on it; this will also up-
date the name in the Rack.
• Above, a potentiometer sets the panoramic of your instrument; completely to the left it will only allow
sound from the left track past; fully to the right, only sound from the right; centered (the default posi-
tion), the two tracks are represented equally.
Panoramic settings.
Tip
Try not to leave the panoramic centered for all of your instruments ! Your final mix will have more of a
“stereo” sound...
• Finally, the MUTE button lets you completely cut the volume from this track, while the SOLO button cuts
the volume for all of the other tracks to only hear this one.
If you have used effect modules in your song, you can define here how to affect them to instruments or each oth-
er.
You can affect up to three effects to a mixing section. For this, click on one of the three effects selectors: a
menu appears, allowing you to choose one of the effects in your song.
Choose an effect.
Linking effects
You can also route effects to each other. Effects have their own mixing section so you can direct the
sound from an effect to another... Attention not to create loops!
On the right of this selector, a potentiometer allows you to define the level of effect sent. Completely to the
left, no sound is sent to the effect, and completely to the right, all of the sound is sent.
The button determines if the sound is sent to the effect before passing through the volume section or not.
PRE
In other terms, if PRE is active, the instrument sound is sent to the effect without taking settings on the
volume section into account. Even if the instrument volume is set to zero, it will still be sent! This is very
useful if you want only the sound modified by the effect in your mix.
The equalizer.
Finally, the equalizer section lets you influence the sound of your instruments. For this, you need to activate it
by clicking on the button . You can independently set the high frequencies (in the upper HIGH part), the low
frequencies (in the LOW part), and the medium (in the MID part).
In each of these sections, the potentiometer at the middle signifies that the sound in this frequency range has
not been modified; to the right it is increased, and reduced to the left.
In the MID part you can also set the frequency upon which you wish to act. By turning this potentiometer to the
left you act only on the medium-basses, to the right on the medium-high.
The Sequencer is the central nervous system for your song. It directs the instruments and effects, and allows you
to record the evolution of your song.
The Sequencer
• the control bar is used to move within the song and act in a global manner on the sequencer settings.
• the position bar indicates your current position in the song.
• the instrument tracks represent the location where your pattern variations are recorded, instrument or
effect settings, etc.
By clicking and moving in the upper zone, you can define a loop. If the button on the control bar is ac-
tive, Storm will return to the beginning of this loop as soon as it reaches the end. This will allow you for example
to repeatedly listen to a part of your song so as to fine tune it.
By clicking on one of the extremities of the loop, you can make it bigger or smaller. By clicking on the outside of
the loop you can create another.
In the lower part of the position bar we find the positions expressed in groups and bars. The orange bars mark
the groups while the small gray bars mark the bars. A group is an ensemble of four bars, while a bar is (by de-
fault) and ensemble of four beats.
The large vertical bar represents the position of the cursor: it is the location in the song currently being played.
You can click anywhere on the position bar to move this cursor.
the instrument tracks represent the location where your pattern changes are recorded
You have one track for each instrument present in your Rack, one track for Kepler, and one master track. If you
cannot see all of the tracks at the same time, a scroll bar will appear on their right. Underneath this scroll bar
you will find four small magnifying glass symbols.
By clicking on the (+) magnifying glasses you zoom the display (either horizontally or vertically), and vice-versa
with the (-) magnifying glasses. If you zoom vertically enough, above the names of each of the tracks you will
find controls like those present on the mixing table. You can thus change the volume or the panoramic for a
track, or use the Mute and Solo functions of the mixing table directly from the sequencer track for an instru-
ment.
You will also find (although only on instrument tracks) a MIDI button and a scrolling list letting you choose the
MIDI channel which controls this instrument. When the track is selected, the MIDI button becomes red, which sig-
nifies that this track can be controlled with a MIDI keyboard.
The pattern indicators: When you are in Recording mode, the sequencer automatically records all of your pattern
changes, which are indicated at the start of each bar by a small white rectangle containing the pattern number.
You can act on the tracks themselves with the contextual menu that appears with a right click (control-click for
Macintosh) at the desired location. These actions always apply to at least a full bar for an instrument. If you wish
to apply them to a larger selection, you can select the desired zone by clicking and dragging your mouse.
• Mute/Unmute: This function mutes the bars selected on the sequencer. The selected bars will be marked
with a cross to signify that the mute is active. The instruments will automatically be muted on the se-
lected bars when the song is played back. You can cancel this by reselecting Mute/Unmute on the muted
bars.
• Set bar tempo: This menu lets you change the tempo of the selected bars.
• Set bar length: Here you can change the length of the bars selected on the sequencer (the unit being the
semiquaver).
• Set bar color: Here you can change the color of the bars selected on the sequencer during a recording.
You can in the same manner use the button situated on the control bar, before a recording.
• Edit: Opens the Piano Roll on the selected bar.
• Copy / Cut / Paste: These three options let you copy / cut and paste a selection on the sequencer. It is
also possible to access these functions with the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C / X or V or via the Edit menu.
• Create a MIDI sequence: Creates an empty MIDI sequence in the selected bars. You can then record MIDI
events inside (what you play on the keyboard for example).
• Convert to MIDI: Convert the selected bars to a MIDI sequence. If the bars contain patterns, the pattern
notes are also converted to MIDI notes.
• Record in Static mode: see the chapter Static mode composition.
• Make an audio recording: This function lets you make an audio recording of what is selected on the se-
quencer. See the chapter Audio export.
To access Kepler, you can either click on the icon in the toolbar, or select the menu View> Kepler.
To ensure the harmony of a song, all of the modules must function according to the same tone. Kepler allows you
to define this tone, and even program a sequence of tones.
The tones are presented in the Anglo-German nomenclature, which today is the most widely used.
Anglo-German system C D E F G A B M m
On the right of the two circles, two columns each containing eight boxes are visible. The first column shows the
sequence of tones.
Thus, the first box at the top of the column shows the dominant tone of the sound modules at the beginning of
the group. The next box shows the dominant tone in the middle of the first bar. The third box shows the tone of
the beginning of bar 2.
The second column allows the transposition of the tone to a higher octave. By clicking in one of the boxes, it
lights up in red indicating that the transposition has is active.
Selection of the tones is done by using the concentric circles. By clicking on one of the spheres in the circle, se-
lect a tone corresponding to that sphere from one of the boxes in the column on the right.
In this column, you should see a red border and a yellow border surrounding a box. A red border surrounding a
box means that you can change the tone. A yellow border surrounds the box corresponding to the bar or half bar
where the cursor is on the sequencer.
The Kepler module allows you to create modulations that will enrich your compositions.
Kepler can be applied to most instruments in Storm, (aside from drum machines, which are not melodic, EZ-
Track, Scratch and the ReWire instruments). If you are using H3Oplus, a slight manipulation may be necessary.
Kepler needs to know the tone of the samples used in order to be able to transpose them, see the chapter Using
samples to learn how to define the tone of a sample.
In any case, you can deactivate Kepler's influence on the synthesizers. This can be done for each independent
synthesizer module. You will find the Kepler Connection function in the contextual menu of each synthesizer,
accessible with a right click (PC) or Control + click (Mac) on the synthesizer.
The Record in Static Mode dialog then appears. A red flashing label and STOP button also appear on the
extremity of the transport bar.
Note
The button on the transport bar will be deactivated during the static mode session.
• Once this is done, select the area on the sequencer corresponding to the instrument and the bars that
you wish to edit. A red outline will surround this zone.
Storm lets you use samples in WAV, AIFF or MP3 formats in your songs. The samples can be used, adapted, and
modified in diverse manners with the modules H3Oplus, EZtrack and Scratch. This chapter deals with using sam-
ples in a general manner in Storm: importing, exporting, settings.
The sample library can be accessed via the sample bank tab of the Explorer. If you are using the Hall, you will
notice that the sample library is in the Navigation tab of the Hall.
Among the accessible folders in the sample library, one of them is called Current song (this folder will take the
name of your song if it has already been saved). This library contains a list of samples being used in your song.
Sample banks
The Installed Sample Kits folder contains several folders of samples classed by style and by instrument which are
part of the Storm installation. To use these samples, simply open one of the folders (by double-clicking), select
one of the samples, and drag-and-drop it onto one of the sample modules of your studio (H3Oplus grid, Scratch
table, EZtrack editing zone).
In the same manner you can use a WAV, AIFF, or MP3 format file on your hard drive. For this, you just need to
find the file with the Windows Explorer on PC or the Finder on Mac, and to copy it by drag-and-drop on one of
the sample modules of your studio. Once it has been dropped on the module, a reference to the sample will ap-
pear in the Current song folder. This gives you quick access to external samples used in your song, and to modify
their properties or delete them from the song.
Equally, you can do it in two steps: import the sample with the menu option Studio > Import a sample.... The
sample is then referenced in the Current song folder. You can now select it in this folder and drag-and-drop onto
one of the sample modules in your studio.
When a song is saved, the program also saves all of the samples that have been used in the same file. You can
find more information on this subject in the chapter Loading-Saving.
Exporting samples.
Proceed like the exportation of recorded sequences, described in the chapter Audio export.
Just apply a right click on the sample and select Properties in the contextual menu.
When you work in Storm, changing a pattern, moving a controller or modifying the position of a slider are the ac-
tions which will bring about audible changes.
However, it is not possible to write a score that would take into account all of these modifications. Nevertheless,
they can be stored in a .stm file. This file represents the score.
This .stm file is the saved configuration of the studio and the series of operations performed in that studio.
The sequencer at the top of the screen gives a representation of the .stm file and gives, as we have seen, sever-
al editing options.
What is the point in saving all of the manipulations and not just the sound ?
The goal is to later reopen a song, to rework it or to extract a motif for another composition.
It also allows us to stock much smaller files than classic audio files (WAV, AIFF or MP3).
As we will see at the end of this chapter, not only does Storm create a synthesis of sound, it also offers the op-
portunity to work on existing samples. These samples are part of the software database but they can also be im-
ported into the software using the sample library. When saved, the .stm file also contains samples present in the
song.
Saving a song
When the composition is finished, you may want to give it a name and store it on the hard drive, on a diskette or
on another suitable device. To do this:
• next click on OK; in the following window select where and under which name you want to save and click
Save.
To save this song under a different name, select the option File > Save as..., confirm the name and click on
Save.
If your song uses samples (with the modules H3Oplus, EZtrack et Scratch), Storm will offer several options upon
the first save of your song:
When saving, select your options concerning the samples in the song
Loading a song
• In the menu bar, select File > Open. Browse your hard drive and indicate where your compositions are
stocked.
• Next click on the name of the song that you wish to load.
• And click on Open.
You can go directly to the File > Open menu by clicking on the icon.
If Storm has not been launched, it is also possible to load a song by double-clicking on the .stm file on your com-
puter or even directly on a Web site.
When loading your song it is possible that Storm will return the following error message:
This means that the song loaded had not included the samples in the STM file (see previous paragraph), and that
some of the samples used cannot be found. These samples have probably been moved, renamed, or deleted from
the hard drive since you last saved.
If you know where to find the file or the new name, you can indicate the location to Storm by clicking on each
sample and on the Select the file in... option.
• If the samples have just been moved and you know their new location, you can indicate the new folder to
Storm by clicking on the Search for all of the files in... option. Storm will look for the samples of the
same name in the folder and subfolders.
• Finally, if you don't know where to find the missing files, you can choose the option Ignore the problem.
In this case, the song will surely be incomplete as it will be missing samples, but you can still read it, and
save it again without loosing the references of the missing samples that you can look for at a later stage.
Saving a song in the Storm (.stm) format allows us to later load a song and continue to work on it in the studio.
This format cannot be read by other software. On the other hand it is possible to export a complete song, or an
extract from this song in the WAV or AIFF audio standards: these formats can be read by most digital-audio appli-
cations, notably by multimedia players and by programs for burning audio CD's on both PC and Macintosh.
• Use of the recorder, which is useful for short extracts and separate instruments and the audio export of
the full song. The samples recorded can be directly reused on the sample modules in Storm.
• The audio export of the full song.
• On the two controllers select the starting point and ending for the recording.
• Select the outputs that you wish to record. You can then record as many samples as you want at the
same time.
The first tracks correspond to the instruments installed in the rack without their respective effect sends.
This signifies that you are recording these modules without effects. The last track corresponds to the
master record, which is to say all of the modules (except those muted on the mixing table) including
their volume control and the effect returns.
After recording, the tapes corresponding to the tracks recorded on the recorder will appear in the sample library
in Current song folder (this folder will take the name of the song if that song has already been saved).
The recorded sequences will appear in the form of tapes in the Current song folder in the sample library.
the tapes can be moved by drag and drop to instruments using samples (for example the sample sequencer H3O-
plus or the scratch module).
To export for use in an external program (for example audio treatment or CD burning):
• Select the tape that you wish to export by clicking on it with the right mouse button (Ctrl + click for Mac-
intosh)
• Click Export
• Choose the exportation format
• a browser will appear to ask you where you wish to export the sample to. Choose a folder and enter the
name you wish to use. When you click on OK, the sample will be saved to your hard drive at the selected
location.
• Choose the exportation format (Wave 16/24 bits or Aiff 16/24 bits)
• A browser will appear and prompt you to specify a destination for the file.
• Choose a location and name the file you wish to create.
• The exportation will start and a progression bar will indicate the exportation speed and the time remain-
ing.
• The first step is to make sure the MIDI device is connected to your computer.
• Also check that you have correctly selected a MIDI input device in the Storm preferences (Settings > Au-
dio & MIDI menu).
• On the Storm sequencer, select the instrument track which is to receive MIDI control. For more informa-
tion on assigning a MIDI channel to an instrument or forcing MIDI reception to it, go to the chapter on the
Sequencer.
• Place the mouse on the Storm potentiometer that you wish to physically control.
• Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the potentiometer.
• The selected potentiometer is highlighted and a window will open displaying the state of the MIDI con-
trol:
• Check box On: check this box if you wish to activate MIDI control for the potentiometer.
• Control number indicator: select the MIDI control number that you wish to assign to this poten-
tiometer (from 0 to 119).
• Learn button: this is another manner to assign MIDI parameters to a potentiometer. Click on
Learn, Storm will now wait until you have manipulated the physical controller that you wish to
assign to the potentiometer selected in Storm. The MIDI control number detected will be indicat-
ed upon reception of MIDI messages of the “Control Change” type.
1. 2.
3. 4.
A MIDI control window opens under the se- Assign the MIDI parameters or use the As-
lected controller. sign function.
Throughout this operation, the selected potentiometers positions are blocked: you can therefore assign MIDI con-
trollers without worrying about loosing your potentiometer settings.
You can record what you are playing as a MIDI sequence. For this, select a group of bars on the track correspond-
ing to the instrument chosen in the Storm sequencer. Right click (control + click for Macintosh) on the selection
and choose the option Create a MIDI sequence in the contextual menu. When the MIDI sequence is created,
place the playback head in front of the sequence and click on the record button on the Control bar. Now click on
Play and start to play on the keyboard: everything that you play will be recorded in the MIDI sequence.
For the drum machines, each instrument of the drum machine will have its own space on the MIDI keyboard (for
more information see introduction to drum machines chapter).
MIDI Synchronization
You can synchronize Storm with hardware or software through the MIDI protocol.
to configure the synchronization, click on the Settings > MIDI Sync menu.
Then a window opens asking you to indicate whether Storm should be the master of the second device, i.e., the
user controls both devices from Storm - or the slave - and Storm is directed by the other device.
Also, two MIDI devices can have a different latency when started. This will bring about an audible delay between
the two devices. To allow the synchronization despite this, the Latency setting will compensate for this delay so
as to obtain a perfect synchronization.
Storm 3.0 can import MIDI files (extension “.mid”). The very common MIDI file format is a standard format for
stocking musical partitions. A MIDI file generally defines a group of tracks (MIDI sequences) which must be played
simultaneously by different instruments. A full song including rhythms, basses, accompaniments and melodies
can be stocked inside a single and very compact MIDI file. A MIDI file never has any audio information (no audio
recordings, in other words no samples). It simply defines the notes which must be played, the type of instrument
which is to interpret them (trumpet, piano, synth, etc.), as well as the different parameters for interpretation:
volume, modulations, etc. Thankfully, Storm 3.0 also offers the GMSynth module, which is a generalist instru-
ment capable of producing all of the sounds defined by the general MIDI norm with very high audio quality. All
MIDI files are done justice with Storm 3.0.
• either after having created a new empty studio: in this case after importation, a certain number of GM-
Synth instruments will be created on your rack, this, depending on the number of instruments contained
in the MIDI file. You can then add your own instruments and effects to complete the song or do a remix.
• or if you are already working on a song with several instruments and effects on the rack. In this case, the
importation of the MIDI file will have as effect the addition of a certain number of GMSynth instances in
the rack without affecting the other instruments which are already present. The work already done on
the current song will not be lost, but certain general settings may be changed by the importation: new
tempo changes any appear in the sequencer, and the automation of the master section of the mixing ta-
ble can also be changed.
In the two cases, to import a MIDI file, go to the Storm File menu and choose Import a MIDI file. In the file selec-
tion dialog that appears, choose the MIDI file to be imported.
The Piano Roll allows advanced editing of MIDI sequences and melodic patterns. It can also edit the continuous
controls recorded in the song (like the volume and pan for example).
The Piano Roll can be accessed through the View > Piano Roll menu or by clicking on the corresponding icon on
the toolbar: . It can also be opened with a double click on a pattern visualization or a MIDI sequence in the Se-
quencer, or through a right click on an instrument to select the pattern, the MIDI sequence, or continuous control
to edit.
Depending on the function edited (melodic pattern, rhythmic pattern, MIDI sequence, continuous control), the
Piano Roll presents up to three different editing zones:
• The melodic editing zone (in the case of a melodic pattern or MIDI sequence). This zone is also active for
the edition of a rhythmic pattern, but the presentation differs slightly:
• The velocity editing zone, which is generally active simultaneously with the melodic editing. This zone
sets the velocity for each note of a melodic or rhythmic grid:
• The continuous control editing: this zone is available either in the case of the direct editing of a continu-
ous control (volume, panoramic, cut-off, etc.) which is done for the entire duration of the song, or in the
case of the edition of a rhythmic pattern (Meteor, Hork, etc.) as in this case the Pitch and Decay controls
are part of the edited pattern:
- Drawing tool : this tool is used to insert notes, and modify their length and height.
These three tools function in the same manner in the editing of a continuous controller: the drawing tool allows
you to draw a curve that the edited continuous controller will follow, the eraser tool allows us to remove a part
of this curve, and the selection tool allows us to select a portion of a curve (to copy it to another location for ex-
ample).
The fourth button on the toolbar is to show or hide the velocity edition zone (in the case of the edition of a
The following choice called Resolution is to select the resolution wanted for the edit. The resolution defines the
detail of the editing, which is to say the division of the bar into sub-divisions called steps. This parameter cannot
be modified when dealing with the edition of a simple pattern. The patterns in Storm are generally 16 steps per
bar. On the other hand, this parameter can be modified for a MIDI sequence, which allows the use of an editing
detail superior to the semiquaver.
The “previous” and “next” buttons allow us to easily return to a pattern or sequence already edited.
They also give access to the pattern or sequence history through a click on the button.
The two following buttons contain the name of the instrument being edited, and the name of the pattern/MIDI
sequence/continuous controller being edited. We can easily select a new element to edit in another instrument
with the first button, or another element in the same instrument by clicking on the second button.
The range of the editing zone (number of available octaves) depends directly on the type of pattern or sequence
edited. For a bass pattern (Arsenic, Bass52), the range will typically be 3 octaves, while for a MIDI sequence or
an Orpheus pattern, the range will be of 128 notes or 12 octaves and one half. The number of bars edited de-
pends on the pattern (Arsenic : 1 bar, Orpheus: from 1 to 8 bars), or the length of the MIDI sequence edited.
The melodic editing zone responds differently for mouse actions depending on the tool selected (in the toolbar) :
Drawing tool
With the drawing tool, a click on the melodic grid adds a note. This note can then be dragged with the mouse
button held down and moving the cursor to the right. Thus, with a single click we can add a note and define the
length. Equally, if you move the mouse cursor up or down (all while moving towards the right), you will create a
new note each time you change graduation along the vertical scale of the tone height.
In this mode, you can also modify the length of an existing note. For this, move the mouse cursor to the extreme
right of a note. The cursor transforms into a double-ended arrow pointing left and right. If you now click and
move the mouse to the right or left (while holding the mouse button down), you will change the duration for the
note. Attention, in certain instrumental patterns, those on Arsenic for example, the note duration cannot be
modified.
It is also possible in this mode to change the height of a note. For this, move the mouse cursor to a note (but not
to the extreme right of the note which changes the length), the cursor takes the form of a double-ended arrow
pointing up and down. If you click at this time and move the mouse up or down (while holding the mouse button
down) you will change the height of the note.
Eraser tool
With the eraser tool, you can remove a note by clicking on it. You can also remove several notes but holding
down the mouse button and using the mouse like an eraser.
Selection tool
The selection tool is used to group the notes together, and apply changes to this group of notes in order to trans-
pose them, change their duration, or move them. To select a group of notes, click on the selection tool in the
toolbar, then click on the grid and drag the mouse to make your selection (keeping the mouse button held
down). All of the notes within the rectangle will be selected. You can now add or remove notes in the selection
by clicking on it while holding the Shift key down. You can cancel the selection by clicking on the grid.
The selection can equally be duplicated, to the same melodic sequence or another. For this, select Copy in the
Edit menu. Next click on the area of the melodic grid that you wand to copy your selection, and select Paste in
the Edit menu.
The velocity of a note represents it's intensity or force (or audio volume). The term comes from piano playing,
where the faster the finger hits the key, the heavier the impact of the hammer on the string, the louder and
brighter the sound. The velocity is generally detected by MIDI keyboards, and has become an essential form of
expression in playing a synthesizer keyboard. As a consequence, the editing of MIDI sequences or melodic pat-
terns in Storm brings access to this setting for every recorded note.
The visualization and editing zone of the velocity can be found under the melodic editing zone. It can be hidden
or activated by clicking on the velocity button in the Piano Roll toolbar. Each note on the melodic editing
grid corresponds to a bar in the velocity editing zone. This bar by its height expresses the velocity associated to
each note. The higher the bar, the louder the note. Each velocity bar can be edited by placing the mouse cursor
on the superior part, clicking and holding the mouse button while moving up or down.
The Piano Roll allows the visualization and graphical editing continuous controller variation throughout the song.
It can easily help program a fade-out for example at the end of the song, to make the music “disappear” into si-
lence: just progressively diminish the volume setting over a few bars until you reach zero volume.
- either open Piano Roll (with the View > Piano Roll menu or with the icon in the global Storm toolbar), and click
on the button indicating the choice of module being edited (on the Piano Roll toolbar this time). A menu will ap-
pear, allowing you to choose the module to be edited, the pattern, the MIDI sequence, or controller to be edited.
Select one of the controllers offered on the module that you wish to edit.
- or by a right click on the instrument or effect to be edited, follow the Edit option in the menu that appears and
choose the appropriate controller.
- or by double click, directly on the controller (potentiometer or slider) that you wish to edit. Attention, with a
double click you run the risk of modifying the value of controller that you have chosen, this is why the two previ-
ous options are preferable.
Drawing tool
The evolution of the value for the continuous controller is represented by a blue curve. The yellow points mark
the points where a value is effectively recorded. Everywhere else, no signal is recorded, and the curve is flat
(same value for a whole period) until another eventual yellow point. Once the drawing tool is selected, we can
click on the grid to add a value, and draw a curve by keeping the mouse button held down. By positioning the
mouse on a defined value (yellow point) of the curve, the cursor transforms into a double-ended up-down arrow:
by clicking, we can modify the value of this particular point of the curve.
By clicking anywhere on the grid with the Shift key held down, we create a rectilinear curve between the last
value edited with the mouse and the value corresponding to the new position of the mouse.
Eraser tool
With the eraser tool, you can cancel the recording of value changes for the continuous controller you are editing.
Position yourself at the start of the zone that you want to erase, and hold down the button while moving the
mouse. The removal of the data can be seen with the removal of the yellow points. Where you have removed
recorded values, the blue curve is now horizontal, fixed at the closest previous value that you have not deleted.
Selection tool
Here, this tool defines a selection: click on the grid, and drag your selection holding the mouse button down. You
can use the Copy, Cut and Paste options contained in the Storm Edit menu.
Attention: The potentiometers available on drum machines are not like the others: their variations are not
recorded throughout the song, but are part of the data in a rhythmic pattern. Editing these controllers is done
through editing the rhythmic pattern as explained in the following paragraph.
What is ReWire?
ReWire™ is a software interface developed by Propellerhead Software™ to transfer MIDI and audio data between
different applications. This protocol allows to connect several ReWire compatible applications, and to get the
sound of all the applications in just one of them, by synchronizing their sequencers. The application that mixes
the sound of these interconnected applications is called a ReWire mixer, the others are ReWire instruments.
Storm can be used either as a ReWire instrument or mixer. Thus it is possible to:
• use Storm as a ReWire instrument in a ReWire mixer such as Steinberg Cubase™ or Ableton Live™.
• use Storm as a ReWire mixer and to mix the sound of ReWire instruments such as Reason™ or Rebirth™
from Propellerhead Software.
To open a ReWire instrument, go to the ReWire Instruments tab of the explorer and drag the instrument of your
choice to the Rack. If this tab does not appear, make sure that the option Settings > General/Activate ReWire
mixer on launch of Storm option is active, and that you have launched Storm before any other ReWire compati-
ble application.
Note
Attention, certain ReWire instruments are not launched automatically. It can be therefore necessary to
launch the corresponding application after having dragged the instrument to the Storm rack.
Once the application has been launched, the two synthesizers are synchronized, and the sound of the two appli-
cations is mixed in the ReWire mixing table in Storm. You can indifferently play, stop, change the tempo, etc. in
one or the other.
It is possible to open the same ReWire instrument several times, they are connected to the same application.
You can thus differently mix several channels of this application.
When exporting audio in Storm with the File > Audio Export menu, the ReWire instruments are included in the
audio file produced.
To remove a ReWire instrument, do so as you would any of Storm's other instruments: right click on the instru-
ment in the Rack (Control + click for Mac), and select Remove Module.
Finally, before quitting Storm, you need to quit all ReWire instruments.
The sequencers in Storm and your mixer application are then synchronized, and the sound from Storm is mixed
by the mixer application.
Storm can export up to 64 audio tracks to the ReWire mixer; you can use the Settings > Audio Connections dia-
log box to choose the output channels for the different Storm instruments.
Remark: The audio preferences are inactive and remain so as long as Storm is used with ReWire.
Storm is also capable of receiving MIDI events coming from your sequencer. These events will be routed depend-
ing on the settings selected in the Storm Sequencer. Note that not all sequencers are capable of sending MIDI
through ReWire.
The Hall in Storm 3.0 allows you to join the Storm users “community” by using your Internet connection.
It is in fact a set of functions grouped together in a window independent of the studio. This Hall will help you to
exchange samples and files for your compositions, chat, be informed of all of the latest news concerning Storm,
or even to share hints and tips
Launch
To launch the hall, click on the icon in the Storm toolbar. The main Hall window will open and you can con-
nect by clicking on the Connect button. You will be asked for a login name and password, and you will use this to
identify yourself with the server for your future connections. To make your login to the server automatic, have a
look at the hall configuration section.
The button is the welcome page, it brings you back to the available tips list. The button is “Previous”
and will bring you back to the last page consulted.
Most hall users will also have shared samples and .stm files. A large quantity of resources is thus available thanks
to the Hall, and you will be able to benefit from this with a resources “search engine”.
To search for a resource, click on the Search tab, and type a complete word in the find files field. You can
choose if your search is to be processed concerning samples, Storm files or all criteria. You can also perform a
more precise search by choosing Advanced.... With this search mode, you can search for files by file format, ti-
tle, the tempo and maybe find the files you need in other users resources.
Search tab
Once you have filled out your search criteria, click on Search. The Hall will then connect you to the Arturia serv-
er which will sift through the other users shared resources. The results sent by the server will progressively ap-
pear in the list of files. If you are searching for samples, you can listen to a preview by clicking on the button
or by selecting the file, right clicking it and selecting Preview. The preview functions by the quick download of a
compressed version of the sample that interests you. This lets you listen to several samples before choosing the
ones that you want to download. As a result of the compression, the sound quality of the preview is a little lower
than the sample itself. The preview is not always possible depending on whether or not there is a compressed
version of the sample on the computer of the user sharing the resource or not.
You can equally, with the button or thanks to a right click (Ctrl + click for Mac) display information relative
to the selected file. If you are interested by one or several files, you can select the files concerned and click on
or use a right click to Download the selection. Download will let you to download the selected file to the
folders managed by the Hall Navigator. With the sub-menu you can choose the folder on your hard drive to which
you wish to download the file.
By drag-and-drop, you can directly drop a sample in the search list to your studio on modules such as
Scratch, H3O+ or EZtrack.
For the downloading of a file/files selected, the server will help you to connect to the computer from which the
file is being shared. You can monitor the status of your download with the Transfers tab.
Transfers tab
This window represents in its upper section the state of the file downloads from the computers with whom you
are connected to exchange files. For every file currently being downloaded, you can stop the download by click-
ing on the button. This can equally be done by right clicking on the file concerned. In this Transfers window,
by using the button, you can make the list easier to read by removing the stopped or completed downloads.
Once the download is finished, the files are available on your computer. The choice of download folder can be
made in the Hall configuration options.
Warning
The files you are sharing will be visible and available to download for Hall users who access the files and
information present in the folders you will share. Please ensure that these folders contain no elements
that you do not wish to share with other people.
Navigation tab
The left side shows a list of resources regrouping the resources available on your computer. If the Storm samples
CD-ROM is present in your drive, you will see the CD sample banks appear in a sample banks folder on the CD.
The third folder lets you access the samples used in the Storm song that is currently open or in the song you are
currently composing. Next you have access to all of your shared folders.
The button lets you add a folder on your computer to your navigator shared folders. The button lets you
stop sharing a shared folder.
In the right part of the navigator, you can see AIFF format samples represented by icons, WAV format samples
represented by icons, MP3 format samples represented by and finally icons for STM format samples.
You can listen to a sample by clicking on the button in the toolbar, or right clicking (Ctrl + click for Mac) the
sample and selecting Listen. You can get information concerning the sample by clicking on or with a right
click.
To join a chat room, select the room of your choice and click on . As many new tabs as rooms joined will ap-
pear at the bottom of the Chat window. With these tabs, you can navigate from room to room and return to the
room list (HotList tab).
• The left section shows the list of users connected to the room, and you can get information for each user
of this list ( button), you can add the user to the hot list.
• The upper section shows the name of the current room. The lets you lock or unlock entry for other
users for the room. If the button shows an open lock, other users can join the room, if the lock is closed,
then you have locked access to the room for other users. The button lets you to quit the current
room.
• The central section shows the current discussion.
• Underneath is the input zone for your text (hit the enter key to send your text).
• The lower section of the chat window shows a list of resources shared by the users that you can down-
load.
The 5 configuration options for software and hardware in Storm can be found in the Settings menu. Here you will
find the audio configurations, MIDI, general, and the Hall settings. The configuration settings can be found in the
menu bar. The three first options are grouped in a system of tabs, which allows the fast navigation in most of the
program settings.
General options
This window contains the information concerning choice of language, the type of keyboard, sample compression
and the studio startup options.
• Language: The choice of language used in the menus and functions of the program.
• Save options: configure Storm to include samples in the .stm files, so as to manage their size.
• Ask to include samples: Storm will ask for confirmation of inclusion of samples every time you
save a STM file.
• Include samples... : Samples will always be included and Storm will not ask for confirmation.
• Compress samples... : If this option is selected, the samples are compressed when included in an
STM file.
• Studio options:
• Show the “Where to Start?”...: allows you to activate/deactivate the automatic launch of the
Where to Start window when Storm is started.
• Auto start playing: if this option is activated, the studio will automatically play after the Start
button is clicked. In the contrary case, the sequencer will remain in the Stop position, and you
will need to click on the Play button.
• Clear all patterns: this option lets you create a new studio without the default patterns, and this
is for all instruments.
• Audio out: This is the choice of sound card to be used for the audio output of Storm, and of the associat-
ed driver (ASIO or DirectX). We recommend the use of the ASIO protocol if you own a compatible card:
this will help obtain a weaker latency.
• Audio in: The choice available will depend on the output device selected. Storm will use the input se-
lected as the source for recording, with the EZtrack module for example.
• Latency: sets the synthesis engine delay in relation to operations within the software. The latency time
that you can get depends on your sound card and the power of your computer.
• CPU load tolerance: sets the maximum load tolerated by the CPU before the interruption of the synthe-
sis engine.
• ASIO config: accesses the sound card control panel.
• MIDI output device: This is the choice of MIDI drivers to which the Storm MIDI output will be sent (essen-
tially in a case of MIDI Sync with Storm as master). Several MIDI devices can be checked.
• MIDI input device: This is the choice of MIDI interface connected as input. Several interfaces can be
checked, which allows you, for example, to use several MIDI control keyboards simultaneously with
Storm.
When the CPU load is too heavy, Storm is interrupted and a dialog box will be opened. It proposes the
setting of a tolerable maximum CPU load.
It should be noted that a CPU load around 80 % will strongly slow your computers reactions! It is then
recommended that you remove some of the “heavier” modules from your studio: Shadow, GMSynth,
Vocoder or Reverb. When the load is too heavy, you have the choice to Continue or to Stop to allow you
to remove modules from the rack.
Hall options
This tab is just for the Storm Hall and will help you to set your connection parameters, your download options,
and your folders.
• Login/Password: indicate your login and password to identify yourself in the Hall.
• Connection speed: indicate your connection type so as to optimize the Hall depending on your band-
width.
• Max uploads: indicate the number of downloads that users can perform simultaneously on your shared
folders (select a reasonable number depending on your Internet connection).
• Max search results: indicate the maximum number of results displayed when searching for files.
• Behind firewall: indicate if you a behind a firewall. The Hall will adapt itself to this particular configura-
tion.
• Auto connect to server: check this option if you want to automatically connect with your login when the
Hall is launched.
• Refuse private chat requests: check this option if you want to automatically refuse all offers of private
chats from other Hall users.
• Shared folders: list of all shared folders on your local hard drive, and accessibility for Hall users. Use the
Add button to include a new folder in the list, and the Unshare button to remove this folder from the
list.
• Download directory: lets you choose, among your shared folders, where you want to download your files
to.
lick on the menu Settings > Audio connections. The window that opens will present you with:
• The graphical representation of the instruments present on the Storm rack, plus the representation of
the MASTER, which is the main output from the mixing table.
• On either side of the MASTER and the different instruments we find scrolling lists. These are for connect-
ing the different audio channels of the sound card as output or input of each instrument individually, and
the MASTER.
Example of connections
Imagine that you have a sound card with 8 inputs and as many outputs. It is possible to send each module to a
different output on your sound card. You could therefore apply audio treatment coming from your hardware mix-
ing desk (equalization and effects for example) on each of Storms instruments separately.
To establish a connection between the output of an instrument and a sound card output, choose an audio chan-
nel available in one of the two scrolling lists for this instrument. The first list chooses the audio output for the
left instrument track, and the second for the right track.
To select the audio channels to be directed to the audio input of the EZtrack module, choose them in the two
scrolling lists on the left of EZtrack in the audio connections panel.
MIDI Synchronization
You will find the parameters concerning your MIDI configuration and MIDI synchronization (with an external drum
machine or a sequencer for example). It can only be opened from the composition screen and not the studio
builder.
What is a synthesizer?
A Synthesizer is a piece of electronic equipment capable of producing a sound. In this manner it represents a new
type of musical instrument as it does not reproduce the sound but creates its own. In Storm, this category is rep-
resented by the following modules: Arsenic, Bass 52, Equinoxe, Orpheus, Shadow, GMSynth and the Tsunami
drum machine. A synthesizer can also be characterized by acting upon multiple sound parameters, to modify the
tone, the frequency or the resonance for example.
In Storm Music Studio, we also find sample modules, used to record, play or mix sound files, as well as drum ma-
chines, which will be used to trigger rhythmic sounds at regular intervals. All of the elements present in the syn-
thesizer library will be called instruments or instrument modules even if they are not synthesizers in the strict
sense of the term.
On nearly all of the synthesizers, you will see a pad with numbers and letters. (The only ones without this are the
scratch and EZtrack modules).
As you may have seen in regard to pattern selectors, patterns are pre-recorded. You can compose your song by
using provided patterns.
Patterns are coded by a letter between A and D and two numbers between 1 and 4. For example B12. This means
that 64 different patterns are available.
Initially all of the instruments will be set to the first pattern, A11. The control window under the selection key-
pad indicates the pattern number.
To change patterns, click on the other letters or numbers in the grid. The new key you have selected is going to
blink until the end of the current bar. The change in pattern will take place at the end of that bar
You can modify existing patterns on all synthesizers. However, the technique to do this differs for each one and
will be described later for each case. If you wish to return to the original pattern, click on the RESTORE button.
The Arsenic bass line has the same features as the vintage synthesizers from the 1970's. A square oscillator is
modulated by a low pass resonant filter.
The Piano Roll, which is a note grid and a piano keyboard lets us create melodic loops.
As you can see, the grid is composed of 16 bars each representing one of the 16 beats of the bar. These bars are
for the programming. The keyboard is a reduced piano which allows the visualization of the note programmed on
the grid.
This system helps us to create melodic loops. To position a note, click on the grid. To delete it, click on the note
with the right mouse button ( + click for Mac). To move it, click on the middle of the note and drag it up or
down.
Two octaves are represented on the keyboard. To vertically move and see the notes that you have placed on the
other octaves, slide the lift on the right of the screen up or down.
Elsewhere, on the left of the Piano Roll, you have a slider between 1 and 4 which can help you to transpose the
song to another octave. Each step corresponds to an octave: by going from 2 to 3, all of the notes will be played
on the next octave.
The 3 different icons which give access to these modes are on the left of the Piano Roll: from top to bottom, you
will find: edit the notes, edit the liaison between notes, and edit the velocity (or volume).
• Editing the volume represented by the icon allows us to set the velocity of each note. When you
are in this mode, all of the velocities are set to average. To modify the velocity, lower or raise the col-
umn above the desired note and thus change the volume.
It is also possible to edit Arsenic patterns and parameters with the Piano roll. This will allow you to more com-
fortably edit the different notes and controllers on Arsenic.
• To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit >
Pattern and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• To edit the pattern, use the “drawing” tool and click on the grid to display the notes corresponding
to the instruments.
• To remove a note use the “eraser” tool and click on the note.
• It is also possible to change the volume for each note on the volume editor just under the piano roll.
Raise or lower the column under the note.
A second section on the piano roll lets you graphically edit the curve of an Arsenic potentiometer.
• Perform a right click ( + click for Mac) on the edge of the synthesizer and choose the setting that you
wish to edit with the menu: Edit > Controller.
• Shape the curve with the drawing tool. This curve will be copied to the sequencer at the same time as
the notes you would have edited on the pattern.
• Remove the curve (or a part of it) with the eraser tool.
The signal
• An LCD screen which graphically represents the wave form used is located on the right side of the instru-
ment. By clicking on the WAVE button, you can define the wave shape of the signal: square or saw tooth
• By turning the WIDTH potentiometer, you can modify the width of the signal in the following manner:
• The signal is amplitude modulated by an envelope. This envelope can be divided up into two parts: at-
tack and decay.
• The potentiometer on the left bearing the name ATTACK allows us to set the attack duration
(the expansion phase of the sound).
• The potentiometer on the right bearing the name DECAY allows us to set the decay duration (the
decay phase of the sound).
The filter
What is a filter?
A sound can be broken up into a set of sinus waves with various amplitudes and multiple frequencies of the fun-
damental. These sine waves are called harmonic waves; the sound spectrum follows this breakdown.
On the first graphic you see the saw-tooth wave and on the second one its spectral representation.
f Hz
The filter will cut off all frequencies above the cut-off filter frequency:
• The CUTOFF potentiometer lets you choose the filter cut-off frequency. i.e. the level from which higher
frequencies will be cut/deleted from the signal. By turning this potentiometer clockwise you can “open
the filter”, i.e. you increase the value of the cut-off frequency:
f Hz
• The third potentiometer bearing the letters MOD defines the filter's frequency modulation. As we have
just seen, the filter shows an F0 cut-off frequency from which the signal is cut and it is interesting to
make this cutoff frequency vary during the note. The value given by the MOD potentiometer defines the
variation amplitude. The greater the value the stronger the amplitude.
• The ATTACK potentiometer controls the attack duration of the variation curve of the cut-off.
• The last potentiometer called DELAY allows us to set the decay phase length in the variation curve of the
cutoff frequency.
F0
attack decay
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
Bass 52 is a synthesizer which reproduces the characteristics of sound and playing of a fretted electric bass gui-
tar. It will allow you to recreate for example, round and heavy sounds for reggae/dub or R&B bass lines, or more
aggressive (metallic or slap) for funk, rock or fusion. This module uses the concept of synthesis by physical mod-
eling. This means that the types of sounds and playing of the instrument (strings muted or slapped, positions of
the pick-ups, etc...) were studied and recalculated by computer to allow them to be re-synthesized. This type of
synthesis provides a sound faithful to the instrument in its full range and in all forms of expression: change of
playing style (soft or aggressive), use of vibrato, etc...
The melody
This section can be broken into two parts: the pattern selector and Piano Roll.
It functions in the same manner as the other instrument modules of Storm. You can of course modify existing
patterns. To do this, you can either take the notes already in the Piano Roll or start from scratch by clicking on
the CLEAR button. If you wish to return to the original pattern, just click on the RESTORE button. If you have al-
ready saved your song, the last saved pattern will be the one taken into account.
You can also copy an existing pattern onto one or numerous others (to create evolutions of the original pattern
for example). To do this, select the number of the pattern that you want, hit Ctrl+C, select another number and
then hit Ctrl+V.
This screen helps you to compose a melodic loop. To place a note, click on the grid. To delete, click on the note
with the right mouse button ( + click for Mac). To stretch it click on the extreme right, and to move it click on
the center of the note and drag it up or down.
To move vertically, slide the vertical bar on the right of the screen up and down. You can also zoom on particular
parts of the keyboard to make the notes bigger by shrinking the bar. To do this, click on the top of the bar and
slide it downwards.
The four icons which give access to these are found on the left of the Piano Roll: from top to bottom, you will
find volume editing, note editing, the note-link mode and vibrato editing. These different modes appear in the
lower part of the Piano Roll.
• Note editing, represented by the icon is, as we have seen in the previous paragraph, to place
notes on the Piano Roll. To vertically or horizontally zoom and to move in the pattern, use the lift at the
bottom of the Piano Roll.
• Note link editing, represented by the icon allows you to link one note to another creating a legato
effect (one attack for the two notes). To create links, click on the icon, and then on the first note that
you want to link and, without letting go of the left mouse button drag to the second note and release. A
red line will appear between the two notes indicating that the link has been formed.
• Vibrato editing, represented by the icon allows you to choose the vibrato level for each note.
When you enter this mode, all vibrato levels are at zero. To activate one, raise the column under the
note that you wish to modulate.
Vibrato editing
• Volume editing, represented by the icon allows you to choose the velocity level for each note.
When you enter this mode, all velocity levels are set at an average level. To modify a velocity, move up
or down the column under the note for which you wish to change the volume.
It is also possible to edit Bass 52 patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• ATTACK FILTER allows you to configure the absorption of the attack of the note: the more we turn the
knob towards the right, the more the attack becomes present, even aggressive (for the “slap” bass
sound).
• VIBRATO allows you to choose the speed of the vibrato.
• RELEASE FILTER allows you to configure the string absorption (the length of the note): the more you
turn the knob to the right the more the resonance becomes present, metallic.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The Equinoxe chord synthesizer and Arsenic are cousins. They use the same signal generator and the same filter.
The main difference lies in the use of the sound. In the case of Equinoxe the sound is held and several notes can
be superposed. This is the reason why three oscillators are offered.
We have to make the difference between the controllers allowing you to work on the sound and the melody con-
trol tools, in this case the grid.
The sound
The signal
The Equinoxe synthesizer produces three-note chords. This is why three independent oscillators are used in par-
allel.
• The LCD screen located under the WIDTH button lets us visualize the wave shape of each signal from the
3 oscillators.
• To go from a saw-tooth shape to a square shape you only need to click on the WAVE button.
• To modify the width of the three signals, use the WIDTH potentiometer.
The filter is the same as in Arsenic. The control parameters are the same: CUTOFF, RESO, MOD, ATTACK and DE-
CAY.
We also find the potentiometers DECAY and RELEASE. Here we control the envelope parameters applied to the
volume of the three signals which are added before they pass into the filter.
• DECAY sets the fall time of the volume envelope while the note is held (when the chord is stretched on
the grid).
• RELEASE sets the fall time of the volume envelope once the note is released.
Given that the length of the notes is defined on the grid, as we are going to see it, the Decay potentiometer sets
their toning down.
The chords are present on the grid located in the middle of the instrument.
• Click on the grid and you will see a 3 note chord representing one beat.
• Click on this chord and stretch it to the right. It is then held on the number of beats between the 2 verti-
cal bars.
• To erase a chord you only need to click it with the right mouse button ( + click for Mac).
The chord defined is a perfect chord, that is to say that it superposes the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes starting from the
root note. But you can distort it. For this the procedure is very simple:
• Click on one of the 3 notes making up the chord and move it vertically. The figures located left of the
grid define the positions of the notes from the root note. The Kepler defines the root note. (example C
Major: C)
• If for instance, you click on the highest note and move it completely up to the upper edge of the grid,
you will get a 1-3 -8 type chord, meaning that the upper and lower squares define notes by octave.
The chord being defined, you should be able to transpose it, that is to say to make it higher or lower.
To that end you only need to move the cursor located left of the grid. This cursor offers a 5-octave range.
Moving the cursor located left of the grid transposes the chord.
Equinoxe does not allow you to define if a chord is major or minor. The Kepler module provides for
that. If you select a minor tone with the Kepler, the 1-3-5 chord becomes minor. For instance:
It is also possible to edit Equinox patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The Orpheus module is a synthesizer based on the wave table concept, a type of synthesis that appeared at the
beginning of the 80's.
It is a multi-purpose synthesizer which allows us to create melodies (leads for example) and evolving accompani-
ments, special effects or bass lines.
Orpheus has 64 preprogrammed patterns (or sequences) and 128 presets (or sounds). It is polyphonic for 16
notes, which means that we can program chords containing up to 16 notes.
The melody
This part can be divided into two sub-sections: the pattern selector and the Piano Roll.
It works in exactly the same manner as the other Storm instruments. You can of course modify the existing pat-
terns. To do this, you can either build on an existing pattern or start from scratch by clicking on CLEAR. If you
wish to return to the original pattern, just click on the RESTORE button. If you have already saved the current
song, the last saved pattern is the one that will be taken into account.
The Orpheus patterns are, by default, associated with preset sounds. If you wish to modify the sound of a melod-
ic pattern, choose another in the pattern selector and then click on the LINK button for this pattern to be taken
into account with yours. For the functions of the sound presets controller, see below.
This screen allows us to compose a sequence of chords (up to 16 simultaneous notes) or a melody. To place a
note, click in the grid. To delete it, right-click it. To stretch it, click on the extreme right of the note, and to
move it, click in the middle and drag it up or down. To zoom vertically or horizontally on the notes or to move in
the pattern, use the scroll-lifts on the bottom (horizontal zoom) and right (vertical zoom) of the Piano Roll.
The Piano Roll equally allows the configuration of a certain number of options for each note. To do this, you
must begin by clicking on the icon. The melodic composition zone of the Piano Roll is reduced to a series of
columns appearing under the programmed notes. By modifying the height of a column, you influence the control
parameters of the corresponding note. These parameters are found by clicking on vol situated at the bottom
right of the screen. This mode allows you to edit the values of the volume, filter, and the balance of the oscilla-
tors for each note. To return to the note edit mode click on the icon.
The sound
The work on the sound is done on:
By clicking on the preset selector, you have access to 64 preprogrammed sounds in the synthesizer as well as the
64 in the user presets.
Moving the arrow cursor allows you to progressively change the 4 wave forms of the two oscillators. This permits
the creation of progressive and continuous changes to the tone which gives either a subtle or radical evolution to
the sound. Without going into detail on the algorithms used, the horizontal movements influence the wave
shapes of oscillator 1 and the vertical movements influence oscillator 2.
To move among the wave shapes with the help of an external MIDI controller: Ctrl + click (or + Click for Mac-
intosh).
You will find them under the Piano Roll, once the trap door is opened (with the help of the OPEN/CLOSE button
situated above and to the left of these parameters):
• Oscillators 1 and 2
• The filter
• The filter envelopes and the amplitude
• The LFO's (low frequency modulation oscillators)
Oscillator 1
Oscillator 2
• The FM button allows the configuration of the rate of modulation of the frequency of oscillator 1 by that
of oscillator 2.
• COARSE allows you to choose the note by semi-tone (from - 2 octaves to + 2 octaves).
• FINE allows the fine-tuning or detuning of oscillator 2 in relation to the frequency of oscillator 1 (by 1/4
tones). A light detuning creates warmer and thicker sounds, particularly for accompaniments.
The filter
The 4 filter modes: selection of different types of filter. Click until you find what you are looking for.
• LOW PASS cuts the frequencies situated above the frequency of the filter break.
• BAND PASS cuts the frequencies situated below and above the frequency of the filter break.
• HIGH PASS cuts the frequencies underneath the frequency of the filter break.
• NOTCH cuts the frequency of the filter break.
• A (Attack) sets the attack time of a filter envelope or of the volume of a note upon its introduction.
• D (Decay) sets the fall time of the filter envelope or of the volume while the note is held.
• S (Sustain) sets the level of hold (how long the note will ring) for the filter envelope or volume.
• R (Release) sets the fall time of the filter envelope or volume once the note is released.
An LFO is an oscillator which emits a sound on very low frequency (inaudible). This serves as a cyclic modulator
for another sound source. More exactly: a vibrato is an LFO in the form of a sinusoidal wave applied on the pitch
of a principal oscillator (the one we hear), it is also the base principle of FM! A Wah Wah effect is an LFO in the
form of a sinusoidal wave applied on the cut-off of a resonant filter and a tremolo is the result of an LFO in the
form of a sinusoidal wave on the amplitude of a sound.
LFO 1:
LFO 2:
As is the case for all of Storm modules, you can assign all of the knobs of Orpheus to a MIDI controller: to do this,
hold Ctrl and click on the potentiometer.
It is also possible to edit Orpheus patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The GMSynth synthesizer offers a great number of sounds based on the general MIDI norm. You will find sounds
sampled from acoustic and electronic instruments (piano, bass, brass, violins...). These sounds will then pass
through a resonant low-pass filter.
The interface of the instrument module can be separated into two parts:
Programming notes
Note programming can be broken into two parts: the pattern selector and the programming grid.
It works in exactly the same manner as the other instruments in Storm. You can of course modify the existing
patterns. For this you can either use the preprogrammed notes in the chord editing grid or start from scratch by
clicking on the CLEAR button. If you want to go back to the original pattern just click on the RESTORE button. If
you have saved the current song, then the last saved pattern will be the one taken into account. The patterns in
GMSynth are associated to programmed sounds by default. If you wish to modify the sound of a melodic pattern,
choose another one in the presets selector.
This screen lets you compose a melodic loop. To place a note, click on the grid. To remove it, click on the note
with the right mouse button ( + click for Mac). To extend it, click on the extreme right of the note and to
move it, click on the center and drag it up or down.
To move vertically, move the scroll bar on the right of the screen up or down. You can also zoom on a part of the
keyboard to make the notes bigger by reducing this scroll bar. For this, click on the very top of the bar and drag
it down.
The two icons that give access to these modes are found on the left of the Piano Roll: from top to bottom you
will find the note editing (see image underneath) and volume. The volume editing mode appears in the lower
part of the Piano Roll.
• Note editing, represented by the icon lets us place notes on the editing grid as we have already
seen.
• Volume editing, represented by the icon allows us to edit the volume for each note. When you en-
ter this mode, all of the volume values can be configured independently. To change one, raise the col-
umn by clicking under the note that you wish to modify. To change the value for each of the notes of a
chord separately, click on one of the notes contained and change it. Do the same for the other notes.
It is also possible to edit GMSynth patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• Bend allows you vary the height of the pitch of the sound. For this, raise or lower the Bend wheel.
• Mod lets you vary the modulation of the sound so as to obtain a vibrato effect. Raise the Mod wheel to
hear this effect.
• Cutoff is used to vary the GMSynth filter cut-off frequency. By manipulating this potentiometer, you will
obtain more or less of a “bright” sound.
• Resonance varies the resonance of the GMSynth filter. When you adjust this potentiometer, the sound
will begin to “whistle” in a manner of varied pronunciation.
So as not to alter the original sound of the presets, the filter cut-off and resonance settings for GMSynth
are set: to the maximum for the Cutoff and to the minimum for the Resonance.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
Shadow is a chord synthesizer: An ergonomic interface allows you to quickly and easily create different types of
chords: this allows for simple, fast and intuitive programming. The sound is created by a powerful synthesis algo-
rithm which offers rich and varying tones.
This subtractive synthesizer has two oscillators, a noise generator, two Low Frequency Oscillators (LFO) and two
envelope controllers. Shadow offers 128 different sound presets which cover the programming possibilities of the
underlying synthesizer. The more pertinent settings can be modified in real time thanks to a multi-page control
surface and two potentiometers.
As is the case with the other modules in Storm, Shadow has a two-part interface:
The chords
This part can be divided into two sections: the pattern selector and the chord editing grid.
It works in exactly the same manner as the other instruments in Storm. You can of course modify the existing
patterns. For this you can either use the preprogrammed notes in the chord editing grid or start from scratch by
clicking on the CLEAR button. If you want to go back to the original pattern just click on the RESTORE button. If
you have saved the current song, then the last saved pattern will be the one taken into account. The patterns in
Shadow are associated to programmed sounds by default. If you wish to modify the sound of a melodic pattern,
choose another one in the presets selector and then click on the LINK button so that it will be linked to the pat-
tern.
This grid helps you to program a pattern built up of chords. It's a simple method of pattern programming not un-
like that of Equinoxe and allows the creation of several types of chords.
The grid
Removing a chord is simply done with a right click ( + click for Mac) on an empty region of the grid,
whereas right-clicking on one note of a chord only removes the selected note. By default, the chord
placed is a chord said to be perfect, it is composed of 3 notes. In relation to a C chord, we would have
the following notes: C, E (or E flat), G.
Each chord can be modified with the three menus above the note grid.
• Among the available settings, the first helps you to choose the type of chord to be edited on the
grid. There are 5 types of chord:
• Type 5 is the default type, places perfect chords automatically.
• Type 7 allows you to place a minor 7th chord automatically.
• Type 7M allows you to automatically place a major 7th chord.
• Type auto is the automatic mode: you can edit a chord by adding, removing or moving a
note and this mode automatically determines the nearest chord to the one you have tried
to edit based on standard chords.
• Finally the custom type helps you to freely edit the notes making up your chord by let-
ting you add, move and remove the notes.
• The last type of setting (bass) allows you to add a bass one or two octaves below your chord. For
example, if you have programmed a perfect chord composed of the notes C3 - E3 - G3 and you
click on bass 1, you will add a C2 note to your chord to reinforce it.
• Transposition connection
With this instrument (like Orpheus and H3O+) you can choose to have a transposition connection to the
Kepler module, which means that the chord that will be played can by transposed with Kepler's chord
programming. This connection option is active by default, you can deactivate it with a right click (or
+ click for Mac) in a non sensitive (no buttons or functions) area of the module to access the contextual
menu of the module and deselect the Kepler Connection option.
MIDI implementation
The Shadow module can be controlled by a MIDI keyboard and thus can be used as a sound module. On top of
this, we can also record the chord grids being recorded in the heart of the pattern in MIDI. The various poten-
tiometers can be controlled by MIDI controllers.
It is also possible to edit Shadow patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
By clicking on the preset selector you access 64 preprogrammed sounds in the synthesizer as well as 64 user pre-
sets (Users).
The control surface lets you set synthesis setting couples, we can go from page to page with the page break but-
ton or by right clicking on the control surface ( + click for Mac). The control surface is armed with two sliders
which help us to move more precisely in the two dimensional control surface.
To move on the control surface from an external MIDI controller: Ctrl + Click (or + Click for Macintosh).
Preset: This selection lets you choose a type of sound that can be attached or not to the current pattern with
the Link button. When it is attached, each time that the pattern is selected, the module will use the selected
sound. On the other hand, a pattern change will not influence the sound.
CUT: Potentiometer for filter cut-off frequency modification. It allows you to make the sound more or less muf-
fled, more or less bright.
RES: Potentiometer for filter resonance modification. It helps you to bring certain sound frequencies to the fore-
front compared to others
Page 1: Mix of the two oscillators and noise. When the cursor is at the bottom of the surface, only the two oscil-
lators are present, when it is on the top, the noise is then heard. Moving left to right respectively lets you go
from the first oscillator to the second.
Page 2: Tuning of the second oscillator. A horizontal movement affects the finer chord, whereas a vertical move-
ment affects the rougher chord which stretches for two or more octaves per semitone.
Page 3: Volume envelope. A horizontal movement modifies the extinction of the volume release envelope,
whereas a vertical movement changes the attack.
Page 4: LFO control. A horizontal movement changes the quantity of filter cutoff frequency modulation, whereas
a vertical movement changes that of the height of the pitch (pitch).
Page 5: First oscillator wave form. A horizontal movement from the left to the right lets you move progressively
from a saw-tooth wave form to a square wave form, whereas a vertical movement affects the impulse width.
Page 6: Second oscillator wave form. A horizontal movement from the left to the right lets you move progressive-
ly from a saw-tooth wave form to a square wave form, whereas a vertical movement affects the impulse width.
Mode: Button to select the pages on the control surface. A page change does not effect the modifications
recorded on the other pages.
Vertical fader: Modification of only the parameter affected by a vertical movement of the control surface.
Link: This button lets us associate or not associate the sound to the current pattern being used. When a preset is
attached to a sound, each time the pattern will be selected, the module will use the chosen sound. On the other
hand, a pattern change will not affect the sound.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
In Storm, the word instrument has a special meaning to include any equipment capable of generating a melodic
line or a rhythm in a studio. This is how the drum machines are integrated into the instrument library even
though they do not generate sound, they reproduce samples already recorded. The elements in the synthesizer li-
brary will be called instruments or instrument modules even if they are synthesizers in the strict sense of the
term or not.
METEOR PSION
Instruments Note/ MIDI Instruments Note/ MIDI
Bass C1 / 36 Bass C1 / 36
Rim shot C#1 / 37 Rim shot C#1 / 37
Snare D1 / 38 Snare D1 / 38
Clap D#1 / 39 Clap D#1 / 39
Low Tom F1 / 41 Low Tom F1 / 41
Closed Hi Hat F#1 / 42 Closed Hi Hat F#1 / 42
Open Hi Hat A#1 / 46 Open Hi Hat A#1 / 46
Crash C2 / 48 Crash C2 / 48
High Tom D2 / 50 High Tom D2 / 50
Ride D#2 / 51 Ride D#2 / 51
Wood block E2 / 52
Cowbell F#2 / 54
HORK PUMA
Instruments Note/MIDI Instruments Note/ MIDI
Bass C1 / 36 Conga 1 C1 / 36
Rim shot C#1 / 37 Conga 2 D1 / 38
Acoustic Snare D1 / 38 Cabasa E1 / 40
Clap D#1 / 39 Shaker F1 / 41
Electric Snare E1 / 40 Derbuka 1 G1 / 43
Low Tom F1 / 41 Derbuka 2 A1 / 15
Closed Hi Hat F#1 / 42 Timb B1 / 47
Open Hi Hat A#1 / 46 Temp1 (Low Wood Block) C2 / 48
Crash Cymbal 1 C#2 / 49 Temp2 (High Wood Block) D2 / 50
High Tom D2 / 50
Ride Cymbal 1 D#2 / 51
Tambourine F#2 / 54
On all of the drum machines we can also apply mute and solo functions independently for each instrument:
By clicking on the name of the instrument, like the snare drum or the tom, you cut the sound of this instrument
(MUTE), while the others contained in the same drum machine will continue to play. By clicking a second time,
you reactivate the sound of the instrument (UNMUTE).
In the same manner, by right clicking ( + click on Mac) on the name of an instrument, you play the instrument
as SOLO. It's an inverted MUTE: you cut out all other instruments of the drum machine excepting the one you
have selected. By clicking a second time on the name of the instrument, you remove the SOLO function. It is pos-
sible to use several MUTE or SOLOs at the same time as with traditional mixing tables.
The Tsunami drum machine, unlike other modules of the same type which use samples, generates sounds by syn-
thesis like the first 70's drum machines.
As for the synthesizers, part of the presentation is dedicated to the programming of new loops and one part is
dedicated to the sound produced.
Programming a rhythm
The first thing to do in order to hear and modify sound is to program a rhythm! (or use pre-programmed patterns)
• Start by erasing the current pattern: click on the grid and click on CTRL + X or click on the CLEAR button
under the pattern selector.
• Next, click on any bulb in the grid and a green light will be on. This green light corresponds to a percus-
sion sound.
The small red lines above the grid correspond to the four beats of the bar. This is the same for all Storm drum
machines.
• When clicking a few times on the same bulb the volume of the associated sound changes. Storm manages
the dynamics for each sound in the grid regardless of the others.
Bulb off:
no sound
Switching on a bulb comes down to choosing the sound of the corresponding instrument on the corresponding
beat.
The various instruments offered are broken into columns left of the grid. The various beats of the bar are in a
line above the grid. Each bulb thus corresponds both to a beat and a bar.
Available instruments
It is also possible to edit Tsunami patterns possible to edit Tsunami patterns with the help of a “piano roll” type
editing grid specially conceived for drum machines.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) and select the menu Edit > Pattern and choose the
pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• To edit the pattern, use the “Drawing” tool and click on the grid to display the notes corresponding
to the instruments.
• To remove a note, use the “Eraser” tool and click on the note.
• It is possible to change the volume for each note with the volume editor just under the Piano Roll. Raise
or lower the column below the note.
Editing a pattern.
The lower part of the Piano Roll lets you graphically edit the curve of a given Tsunami potentiometer.
Choose the parameter that you wish to edit from the list and draw the curve with the drawing tool. This curve
will be copied to the sequencer at the same time as the notes that you will have edited in the pattern.
A series of potentiometers is associated to each instrument, the name of which is stated on the right of the grid.
Actually two types of sounds can be created from two different sources: The first four instruments from the top
containing white noise. The last four; a sinusoidal wave oscillator.
For each of the sounds you can set a large number of parameters.
In the case of the noise sounds (white noise), let us analyze the controlled parameters. For that click on the blue
diode on the right of Noise 1 (the diode lights up red).
attack decay
resonance
width
F
F0
• Lev and Pan have the same function as above. The oscillator's frequency is defined by the Pitch button.
• MA is the attack duration
• MD is the duration of the decay phase of the sound
• Md defines the amplitude of the frequency modulation
• D corresponds to the Decay associated with an amplitude envelope applied this time directly to the
sound.
The Tsunami drum machine is very complete and in a sense fairly complex. But it offers enormous possibilities
for creation.
Besides this, it offers a feature which memorizes the potentiometer movements in the patterns.
You can also edit the curve of the different potentiometers with the controller editor which is found under the
note grid. Choose the control that you wish to edit from the list of potentiometers and modify the curve with the
drawing tool.
Editing controllers.
• by MIDI
• by using the MUTE and SOLO functions of each instrument
• with the numerical keyboard
These control techniques are the same for all 5 drum machines in Storm. To find out more take a look at the in-
troduction chapter to drum machines.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The Meteor drum machine provides you with an ensemble of sounds which have been sampled from analog drum
machines.
Programming rhythms
The programming of rhythms is identical to that of the Tsunami sound module. It uses the bulb grid.
Compared to the previous drum machine there are some differences as regards to working on sounds:
The potentiometers are always gathered in pairs. And here also a pair of potentiometers corresponds to an in-
strument.
• The first potentiometer allows us to set the sound pitch. The pitch corresponds to the tone according to
which the sample is read. The higher the pitch of the sample, the shorter the sound and playback is. This
parameter can be interesting for example to change the height of the toms. Turn the potentiometer to
one side or the other and you should hear this difference.
• The second potentiometer Dec controls the sound decay.
The movement of these buttons corresponding to the two parameters can be recorded within the pattern.
It is also possible to edit Bass 52 patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
Instrument control
You can control each of the 8 instruments that make up Meteor in 3 different manners:
• by MIDI
• by using the MUTE and SOLO functions of each instrument
• with the Piano Roll editor
These control techniques are the same for all 5 drum machines in Storm. To find out more take a look at the in-
troduction chapter to drum machines.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The Psion drum machine provides you with an ensemble of sounds sampled from electronic drum kits.
Programming rhythms
The potentiometers are always gathered in pairs. And here too a pair of potentiometers corresponds to an instru-
ment:
• The first potentiometer allows us to set the sound pitch. The pitch corresponds to the tone at which the
sample is read. The higher the pitch of the sample the shorter the sound and playback are. This can be
interesting for example to increase the height of the toms. Turn the potentiometer to one side or the
other and you should hear this difference.
• The second potentiometer controls the sound decay.
It is also possible to edit Bass 52 patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• by MIDI
• by using the MUTE and SOLO functions of each instrument
• with the Piano Roll editor
These control techniques are the same for all 5 drum machines in Storm. To find out more take a look at the in-
troduction chapter to drum machines.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
This is another sampled drum machine offered in the instruments library. Puma offers traditional and exotic per-
cussion sounds.
Programming rhythms
The programming of rhythms is identical to that of the Tsunami sound module. It uses the bulb grid.
• The first potentiometer allows to you set the pitch of the sound. The pitch corresponds to the tone at
which the sample is read. The higher the pitch, the faster it is read and the shorter its length. This can
be interesting for example for changing the height of percussions.
• The second potentiometer allows us to set the decay of the sound, i.e. the duration of the sound decay
or simply its length.
It is also possible to edit Bass 52 patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• by MIDI
• by using the MUTE and SOLO functions of each instrument
• with the Piano Roll editor
These control techniques are the same for all 5 drum machines in Storm. To find out more take a look at the in-
troduction chapter to drum machines.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
The Hork drum machine offers an ensemble of sounds sampled from a real acoustic drum kit.
Programming rhythms
The potentiometers are always gathered in pairs. And here too a pair of potentiometers corresponds to an instru-
ment:
• The first potentiometer allows us to set the pitch of the sound. The pitch corresponds to the speed at
which the sample is read. The faster the sample is read, the shorter the sound is. This parameter can be
interesting for example to change the height of the toms. Turn the potentiometer to one side or the oth-
er and you should hear this difference.
• The second potentiometer controls the decay of the sound.
The movement of the buttons corresponding to these two parameters can be recorded within a pattern
It is also possible to edit Bass 52 patterns and parameters more comfortably with the Piano roll.
To open the piano roll, right click (Control + click for Mac) on the instrument and select the menu Edit > Pattern
and choose the pattern that you wish to edit from the list.
• by MIDI
• by using the MUTE and SOLO functions of each instrument
• with the Piano Roll editor
These control techniques are the same for the 5 drum machines in Storm. To find out more take a look at the in-
troduction chapter to drum machines.
• Edit > Pattern and Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the patterns or continuous controls for the
module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
In Storm, the word instrument has a particular meaning as it is applied to any device capable of producing a
melodic or rhythmic line in the studio. This is why the three sample modules are included in the instrument li-
brary, even though they do not generate sound but reproduce and modify pre-recorded samples.
To find out more about using samples in the studio, see the Chapter Using samples.
In the Storm STM file format, samples are the elements which take up the most space, especially when they are
not compressed, even though the studio and sound characteristics for the synthesizers and drum machines can be
contained in just a few kilobytes. It is nonetheless possible to integrate them into the STM file. To find out more
see the Chapter loading/saving.
Finally, in Storm Music Studio 3.0, you can use the Hall to look for and exchange samples with other users. Don't
hesitate in making use of this opportunity!
The EZtrack module allows you to record any external audio source (through microphone, line in, CD etc.) in syn-
chronization with the other Storm modules. The recorded samples can be replayed (with real-time time-stretch-
ing in case of a change in tempo), edited and exported to other modules. Recording with EZtrack is done by one
of two means, either in normal mode or punch mode.
Recording on
the fly
Thru mode
deactivated
Replacement
and mixing modes
• PC / Direct X: If you work on PC, and you have configured Storm to use DirectX drivers, the SOURCE but-
ton will open the Windows multimedia mixer in recording mode. All you need to do is select one of the
sources and set the volume of recording coming in to EZtrack. Now close the Windows mixer: EZtrack is
ready to record.
• Mac OS + Sound Manager / Mac OS X + Core Audio / ASIO for PC or Mac: if you are in one of these audio
configurations, the SOURCE button will open a Storm interface which will allow you to perform the same
settings as with the previous case: choice of recording source and volume recording level.
• Erase mode (the ERASE button is depressed): A recording in a previously recorded bar will completely
erase the previous recording and replace it with the new one.
• Mix mode (the ERASE button is released): A recording will be automatically mixed with any recording al-
ready done in the same bars.
Editing
The recorded samples can be edited: to create a selection left click outside the existing selection, then slide the
cursor to the end of the selection. The options Cut / Copy / Paste in the Edit menu allow you to cut, copy and
paste bits of your recording to other parts of the song.
• Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the continuous controls for the module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
H30+ is a sample sequencer that offers the opportunity to introduce samples into your composition, in parallel
with the real time synthesis.
• To do this, open the sample library in the explorer (click on the “Samples” tab to have it appear).
• Choose a first sample among the samples provided in the sample library or among those you may have
dropped in the container
• “Drag and drop” it onto the sequencer.
Drag and drop the sample onto the sequencer from the library...
• Check that a value is present for the tempo, that the number of “steps” is correctly set (this is the
length of the sample in 16ths of a bar), and that a tone is selected if the sample is tuned.
• If this is the case this means that the sample tone and tempo are already written in its properties.
You can now try to change the sample tempo or tone of a sample. You can also decide not to apply the automat-
ic functions of time-stretching and pitch-shifting. For this, click on one or the other of the options to be checked
Deactivate time-stretching and Deactivate pitch-shifting. Thus the samples imported into your compositions
will keep their original tempo and tone.
• the sample tempo uses the general tempo and thus you only need to modify the value in the tempo win-
dow of the control bar.
• It can also happen that Storm does not correctly understand the length of imported samples. You can set
this by using the Steps value situated above the tempo in sample properties. A step corresponds to
1/16th of a bar, you need for example 16 steps to make a bar of 4 beats.
• It is also possible to change the length of samples directly on H30plus by dragging the extreme right of
the sample with the mouse.
• To close the sample properties, you only need to click beside it.
• You can also transpose the samples individually. This can be interesting for creating a “brass section” ef-
fect from one sax sound for example. For this, hold Shift + Click on a sample that you want to tune; a
small horizontal Transpose keyboard will appear. Choose the tone and click outside the keyboard to
close it.
The volume of each sample can be controlled independently of the other samples selected. For this, click on the
extremity of the sample and decrease its height by moving the mouse down.
Duplicating a sample
To duplicate a sample, keep key CTRL pressed, click on the sample and “drag and drop” it to a new place.
• Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the continuous controls for the module.
• Kepler connection: connection to or disconnection from the Kepler module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Clear all patterns: removes all of the patterns on the module (we can cancel this action with the Undo
function).
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
This is a double deck that a DJ may use. It allows you to mix and scratch your samples.
• Open the sample container and select the sample you wish to drop on one of the decks.
• Drag and drop it onto the deck.
• It is now loaded.
When a new sample is dropped on the deck it is automatically set to the rhythm of the piece. The original tempo
of the sample, seen in the properties window of the sample, is not applied.
To respect the loop concept in Storm you can decide on how many bars your sample will be looped. For that you
only need to click on the arrows of the controller located above the deck. However, if you leave the controller in
position 0, the entirety of the sample is read.
The fader
The fader works like normal hardware DJ mixing tables and allows you to select a deck and then the other.
Both sliders located on the sides of the mix table allow you to change the records' rotation speed, i.e. the sample
pitch.
This reading speed is at the beginning set so that the sample follows the same rhythm as the other elements of
the studio. If you move the pitch slider it will be difficult to get the original position back. Nevertheless the slid-
er will be instantly repositioned if you apply a right click on the pitch slider.
On/Off buttons
These buttons allow you to stop the motor of the decks. What are they useful for?
It is sometimes interesting to scratch a precise part of a sample, a voice for example. For that you can click on
the On/Off button and position the record by hand on this sound. You only need to click on the record and keep
your finger pressed while moving the mouse to the top of the screen.
You only need to import your songs in the MP3 or WAV format as we have seen in the previous page.
• Edit > Control: open the piano roll to edit the continuous controls for the module.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove a module: remove the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: adds the effects section on the right of the module.
What is an effect?
Shortly, we can say that it is a function of sound deformation. Reverberation, for example which is going to
make the sound produced by an instrument hoarser, larger, is a sound effect. Delay, which allows the addition of
an echo to the sound produced is another. Where the synthesizers are going to create sounds, the effects will de-
form them.
Synthesizer Effect
In the studio the effects available are located to the left side of the rack in the effect library. As is the case with
the instruments, it is possible to place them in the rack... as many as your computer can handle!
Certain effects “consume” more CPU load than others (like Reverb, Compressor or Vocoder for example). This
CPU load is indicated in the effect library, on the right underneath the effect image.
To that end you only need to redirect the sound produced by the first effect towards a second effect by opening
the corresponding effect send output on the first effect module.
Possible configurations
Two instrument modules are sent to the same effect:
The sound of the two instruments is mixed before being sent to the effect.
Synthesizer 1
Effect
Synthesizer 2
It should also be noted that the mixing table sliders control the volume of the synthesizers before passing
through the effect.
Synthesizer 1
Effect 2
Synthesizer 2 Effect 1
In the position with PRE activated, you will still hear the sound entering the effect when the instrument volume
fader of the instrument is lowered ( the “raw” sound from the instrument will have disappeared). If this is not
the case, you won't hear sound anymore when you set the instrument volume fader to zero.
Presentation of Chorus
Chorus is a very simple effect that can produce impressive results.
Concept:
The input signal is duplicated. This duplicated signal is played in parallel with the original signal with a variable
delay. The value of the delay varies according to a defined frequency.
signal
variable delay
Finally, the duplicated signal is partly reintroduced at the beginning of the effect.
Controllers:
The preset selector above the 3 controllers lets us use preconfigured chorus configurations with predefined
SPEED, WIDTH and FEEDB values. Each preset changes the type of chorus used (stereo more or less large, for ex-
ample). There are 8 of these presets and they cannot be modified by the user.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Compression is an effect used by sound engineers to control sound levels and also to shape the dynamics of an in-
strument. Unlike other more spectacular effects, more creative on a compositional level, the compressor is an
effect of sound creation.
With the Compressor, you can make the sound volume levels more dynamic without the risk of saturation; you
can amplify the attack of an instrument which is weak to give it more “punch”.
On the other hand, don't count on the Compressor to make the earth move. As the composer Gustav Mahler once
said: “When we can hear trombones, it means they're playing too loudly”, the same is true for the Compressor
wherein the effect must be discrete without being identifiable as such.
A little theory...
As we all know, sound can be classified by among others its volume or sonar level. Increasing or decreasing the
level of sound or music is done simply by turning the dial on your HIFI. If this modification is affected in function
with the level of the music, which is to say if we decrease the volume when it is too high and increase the vol-
ume when it is low, we do the work of a compressor.
In more detail, the Compressor lowers the sound level when it exceeds a certain limit called a “threshold”. The
means by which the Compressor lowers the sound is in relation to the rate of compression, also called “ratio”. A
ratio of 1 will not lower the sound, a ratio of 0.5 lowers the sound by a ratio of 2, a ratio of 0 will theoretically
stop the sound from exceeding the limit which enables the Compressor.
When you perform compression with the volume of the amplifier, the effect is not instantaneous, there is a delay
time between when you hear the sound passing the limit and when you turn the volume. The same is true for the
compressor. The time between the moment that the sound exceeds the limit and the moment where the com-
pressor lowers the sound is called “attack”. In the same manner, the delay between the moment where the
sound is beneath the limit and the moment where the Compressor ceases to react is called “release”.
If the Compressor only lowers the sound, how can it be used to increase the sound volume without saturation? It's
quite simple, after having decreased the parts that are too loud, all you need to do is increase the whole of the
sound. The level is increased, the parts that were too loud have been forced down, there is no saturation!!
An illustration...
The incoming signal is a sine curve which passes sharply from a level well above the “threshold” to a level well
underneath... the bold line represents the level of the signal:
Level
The factor for increasing volume is called “gain”. A gain of 0.5 indicates that the volume is halved, a gain of 0
means that it is silenced, a gain of 1 will not change the signal.
The theoretic gain, the case of a ratio of 0 (maximum compression) is represented by the bold line, underneath
is the theoretic signal output. We see that the gain is lowered once the volume of the signal is stronger which al-
lows the output signal to stay under the threshold:
Theoretic Gain
Threshold
Attack time
Applied gain
Threshold
Output signal
A fixed gain is thus applied to the output signal and the diagram shows the means by which the attack of the
sound has been strongly increased and equally for the weak input signal:
Output signal
Threshold
Input signal
The module...
There are three commands on the compressor: attack, release, gain and a display indicating the signal level.
• On the screen, we see two red lines, two arrows and a clear-blue line. The first arrow, placed on the bot-
tom of the screen allows you to modify the threshold, the second, which is on the right is for changing
the ratio.
• By moving the arrows, the two lines follow the movement, representing the signal compression curve.
The level represented horizontally corresponds to the input signal, the vertical corresponds to the output
signal.
• Thus we see that the level is not modified before the limit is reached, the line is perfectly oblique with a
slope of 1. On the other hand, the line which links this limit and the ratio arrow has a slope correspond-
ing to the desired ratio. When it is horizontal, the ratio is 0 and compression at the maximum.
• A red point hops above the red lines. It represents the peak level of the output signal. As the diagrams
above show, the higher the attack time, the more the red point will be distanced from the theoretic
compression curve. Finally it represents the attack peak level.
• The third line, clear-blue, represents the 0 dB level (the limit of digital saturation) after the application
of the output gain. This line is modified by the GAIN fader. When the output signal exceeds this line, the
red diode on the top of the screen will light up, the green diode shows an output level without saturation
(clip).
• The attack and release times are modified by the ATTACK and RELEASE dials and the BYPASS button al-
lows you to quickly short-circuit the effect to easily control by ear the effect of the Compressor on the
original sound.
• The CLIP diode turns red when the output signal exceeds 0 dB.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Presentation of Distortion
Distortion is originally an undesirable alteration of the sound signal: the signal is saturated on output and the
sound seems to be deformed.
But distortion is also used in numerous musical styles where the roughness added to the sound is appreciated.
Concept:
The signal is dirtied, distorted; if the specter is observed, it is enriched by numerous harmonics.
Controllers:
The two signal meters on the right of the DRIVE and GAIN buttons allow us to visualize the volume saturation
level, the ideal would be to use the GAIN potentiometer to keep the highest points out of the red zone.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Delay is one of the most widely used effects in the musical world. It allows you to prolong a note by creating an
echo. The result is an effect of space and volume.
The Storm Dual Delays module allows you to largely configure this effect as there are two delays, one which in-
fluences the left speaker, the other is for the right speaker.
• STEPS: sets the number of sequencer steps (semi-quavers) between the sound emitted by the instrument
and the response (echo)
• The LEFT and RIGHT potentiometers: take the case of the RIGHT delay. The RIGHT button lets us set the
echo of the RIGHT delay, which is to say the right speaker. The LEFT button sends this same echo, which
has just passed through the RIGHT delay towards the LEFT delay to give a second delay. The two buttons
of the LEFT delay work in a strictly inverse manner. This allows us to add the effects and thus create
very subtle echo effects, with multiple responses.
The unit of measurement is the sequencer step, which is to say a 16th of a bar (or semi-quaver).
Configuration of time
between two echo effects.
In a configuration where the left window is set to number 3 and the right to 5,
• The time between the sound and the response is 3 steps, or 3/16ths of a bar on the left speaker.
• The time between the sound and the response is 5 steps, or 5/16ths of a bar on the right speaker.
To do this, you must use the RIGHT potentiometer of the RIGHT delay and the LEFT potentiometer of the LEFT
delay.
In these cases, the more you open the potentiometer towards the right, the more the duration of the audible
echoes will increase. When this potentiometer is set to 0, the delay will send only one audible echo. When set to
maximum, the effect will send several echoes of the same sound, the volume of each echo being decreased each
time. We thus get the impression of a sound that gradually disappears.
It is possible to successively send a sound to the right speaker and then to the left, thus creating a rebound ef-
fect on the sound between the right and the left.
To do this, it is necessary to use the LEFT button on the RIGHT delay and the RIGHT button on the LEFT delay.
The LEFT button of the RIGHT delay allows you to send the response from the right track to the left track.
The two potentiometers set the intensity of the response of the opposite channel.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Concept:
Here, we also use a signal delayed in relation to the input signal to add it to the initial signal.
The flange is the cycle which consists of shifting the duplicated signal more and more, before bringing it back
into phase with the original signal.
Controllers:
• The STEPS controller located on the right allows you to set the flange cycle duration.
• The WIDTH potentiometer sets the flange amplitude.
• The FEEDB potentiometer sets the retroaction value, i.e. the percentage of the duplicated signal reinte-
grated at the beginning of the signal.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Concept:
This is a low-pass resonant filter. The LPFilter effect offers two real-time controllers:
An LCD screen shows in real-time the frequency response curve in function with these two parameters.
Controllers:
• The CUT OFF button sets the value of the cutoff frequency. Frequencies above the cutoff frequency will
be filtered.
• The RES button allows you to set a value for the filter resonance.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Presentation of Reverb
Concept:
The Reverb module allows us to submerge an instrument in a sonic ambiance, which simulates the feeling of dif-
ferent rooms.
Controllers :
A click on the arrows or of the Room selector gives you your pick of the rooms available. The name shown
suggests the type of ambiance recreated:
• Small: Room with small dimensions, normally not very reverberant, but with configuration, it creates un-
usual effects.
• Medium: Room with medium dimensions. Ideal for vocals and percussion.
• Large: Very large room. The reverb is long, unreal.
• Cathedral: Imagine an enormous cathedral, cold. The voice gets lost, the harmonies intertwine...
• Tunnel: We're all tempted to shout while passing through a tunnel.
The Decay fader lets us configure the reverb time, which is to say the time the sound takes to diminish, after the
source is killed.
The Diffuse fader permits us to make the sound either very close and precise, or on the other hand, distant and
loose.
The pad allows an easy configuration of the ambiance and sonar color of the room used:
• Top left, the sound is clear, precise, and the resonance is also clear.
• Top right, the sound is still clear, but the resonance is muffled (the walls have a tendency to very quickly
dampen the resonance).
• Bottom left, the walls are totally absorbent, the resonance remains clear.
• Bottom right, the walls are absorbent and the resonance is muffled
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Concept:
Ring Mod allows you to apply a vibrato to the signal entering the effect. Vibrato is a cyclic modulation applied to
the tone of a signal. The speed of this vibrato could be set at a fast speed to give a metallic sound to the signal.
The speed and the width of the vibrato can be modulated in real-time.
Controllers:
• The potentiometer called WIDTH modulates the width of the vibrato. To put it another way, it changes
the intensity of the effect.
• The potentiometer called SPEED allows us to set the oscillation frequency of the vibrato. If you turn this
controller to a high value, you will get a deformed sound and the results can be interesting.
The oscilloscope on the right allows the real-time visualization of the output signal after the effect has been ap-
plied
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
Concept:
The sound of each of the 16 beats is modulated by a band-pass filter. The cut-off frequency of each filter en-
ables the modification the 16 sliders.
The first slider concerns the sound received on the first beat of the bar, the second, the sound received on the
second beat of the bar, and so forth.
Controllers:
The potentiometer called RES allows you to modulate the resonance value of the filter. The resonance automati-
cally sets the filter width (an algorithm calculates and selects the best width).
dB
Resonance
Width
f
F0
The pattern selector on the left of the RES button lets us use one of 8 predefined configurations.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
What is a Vocoder?
The vocoder is an effect which became popular during the 70's for transforming a speaking or singing voice to a
synthetic voice (notably, the famous robot voice). In the present day it can be found in all musical styles which
use electronic instruments (for example groups like Kraftwerk, Earth Wind and Fire, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Won-
der...).
It was brought back to life in house and techno by groups like Daft Punk and Stardust (no need to talk about
“Around the world” or the recent “One more Time”!) like many other “vintage” technologies. It has now be-
come one of the essential elements of the French house sound (the “French touch”)
On top of this, new virtual and computer technologies allow an easier and above all else cheaper access to
vocoder effects! In fact the most basic hardware vocoders are around the 1400 US$ (For example the vocoder
Korg VC10 introduced in 1978).
Basics
The vocoder is an effect which allows us to modify the spectrum of the internal sound synthesizer in function to
the spectrum of the input signal. As a general rule, the input signal being a voice, the vocoder will filter the
sound of the internal synthesizer in a manner so that it follows the spectrum of the voice as well as all of the ar-
ticulations. Thus as output we get a synthetic voice where the tone and note will depend only on the notes pro-
duced on the vocoder synthesizer. The speed of the following of word articulation can be set with the smooth
button which allows us to make the articulation variations more or less smooth.
Your words will follow the note (or notes) played by the keyboard and will have the sound produced by the
vocoder synthesizer. This is probably the simplest method of use as you don't need to know how to sing into the
mic! To create a melody or a series of chords you just need to add several patterns to the studio sequencer. You
can create up to 8 different patterns.
Know also that with this mode, the chords created will follow the tone changes of the Kepler module.
The synthesizer
The settings of the internal synthesizer start with the preset selector which provides the base sound. The con-
trol surface allows recordable real-time modifications of certain synthesizer parameters. The mode button al-
lows us to choose a visualization of the modification surface from four possibilities: filter, mix, tune, LFO. The
modifications recorded in a surface will remain active even when another visualization has been selected.
• Filter: Modification of the synthesizer output filter. This filter is a low pass resonant filter where the cut
off frequency (horizontal) and the resonance (vertical) are modifiable.
• Mix: Modification of the mix of the synthesizers oscillators. There are two oscillators where the mix is
horizontal and a noise generator where the mix is vertical to the control surface.
• Tune: Modification of the tuning of the second oscillator. In horizontal, the fine tune of the second oscil-
lator is modified by a tone more or less. In vertical, it is the octave of this oscillator which is affected
(two octaves below, one octave below, same octave, a fifth above, an octave above, an octave and a
third above).
• LFO: Modification of the LFO characteristics applied to certain parameters of the synthesizer. The LFO is
applied on top of the eventual modifications brought by the control surface. The control surface horizon-
tally commands the oscillation frequency and vertically controls the amplitude.
To save your own presets, set the control surface to the desired values and select the preset upon which you
wish to save with the right mouse button.
• Edit > Control: opens an editor for the module continuous controllers.
• Help: sends you straight to the help for the module.
• Add a column: adds a column to the rack.
• Add a line: adds a line to the rack.
• Remove module: removes the module from the rack.
• Effect controls: displays or hides the effect sends in the rack.
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