Working with Presets
A Preset (also referred as
instrument) in Virtual Sampler is a set of splits. A
Preset can contain an unlimited number of splits, that means you can stack splits to
create layered instruments (Presets). Presets are organized in banks. The banks are
numbered from 0..31. Each bank can contain up to 64 Presets which are numbered from 1..64.
This is called a program (preset) number for the current bank. This means that a preset is
identified by its bank number and its program number. When in Virtual Sampler Multi mode,
banks and program numbers for the current multi can also be changed by ordinary MIDI commands.
The Presets Grid
The Presets Grid holds information on
names as well as bank numbers and program numbers for all Presets that are currently
available. The Presets Grid is located on the Presets page.
You can navigate through the Presets grid with the mouse or with the cursor keys. Presets
can be empty or can hold an instrument with split definitions. Once a preset is activated,
its splits will be displayed within the Split Control Panel (see "Working with Splits" for details) and the sound becomes
available for playing with the OnScreen keyboard or via MIDI when in Virtual Sampler
Preset mode.
The selected preset (instrument) has
a red frame. Once you've selected a preset entry, you can perform operations on that
preset (for example delete it, create a new preset, rename preset). When you have selected
a preset and you click once again on it with the left mouse, the presets grid switches
into edit mode, where you can edit the name of the selected preset. You leave the edit
mode by clicking on another preset or by pressing the <Return> key. You also
can switch back to edit mode with the <Return> key. Note that you also can change
the name of the current preset with the edit control in the toolbar of Virtual Sampler.
Inside the preset grid you also can
move or duplicate presets to another presets. This is done by a drag & drop operation.
To perform drag&drop inside the presets grid do the following:
- Select the appropriate Preset with the left mouse button
- Press the right mouse button and keep it pressed
- Move (drag) the mouse to an empty or existing instrument
(depending on the settings in "Action on drop"). If dropping is possible onto
the current mouse position, Virtual Sampler will display an arrow with a rectangle,
otherwise a stop symbol is displayed
- Release the right mouse button
- Press the left mouse button and drop the Preset on the new
location
You can cancel a drag&drop operation by moving the
mouse until a stop symbol is displayed, release the right mouse button and press the left
mouse button.
The "Action on drop" controls on the Presets page are used to define the operation when a preset is
dropped. See "Presets page" for possible values
and meaning.
The Context-Menu for the Presets
Grid
When you click the right mouse button
on the Presets grid, a context-menu appears where you can select several operations for
the preset. The available commands are:
- New Preset - This
command is used to create a new Preset. The selected Preset position must not contain a
Preset. The newly created Preset will be named "Untitled". By default the newly
created Preset does not contain any splits and you must use the "Load Sample"
button or drag&drop or clipboard paste operations to add splits to it.
- Import Preset - This
will import a Preset and all its associated splits from another Virtual Sampler file. The
"Import Instrument" dialog is displayed where you can select the file an Preset
to be imported. The selected Preset position must be empty and will be used to hold the
imported Preset.
- Delete Preset - This
command is used to delete an existing Preset. The selected Preset position must contain a
valid Preset. Deleting a Presets deletes all of its associated splits and samples. If the
samples are used elsewhere in other Presets, the samples are not lost and will remain
available for the other Presets. If the samples for that Preset are not used in other
Presets, these samples will be erased and will be lost.
- Load Sample - This
command is used to load a new sample for the currently selected Preset. A file open dialog
is displayed where you can select the WAV file that holds the sample data for the new
split. A new split will be created for the sample and added to the Preset's split list. If
the selected Preset position does not contain a Preset, a new Preset called
"Untitled" is created automatically. If the selected Preset position does
already contain a Preset, the newly created split is added to that Preset.
- Preset->Copy - This will copy the
current Preset to the Virtual Sampler clipboard. You can paste the copied preset with the
Preset->Paste command to another (empty) preset or you can copy the splits of the
copied preset to a new or existing preset with the Split->Paste command.
- Preset->Paste - This will paste a
preset to a new position. The target position must not contain a preset and the
Preset->Copy command has to be performed first.
- Split->Copy - This will copy the
current Split to the Virtual Sampler clipboard. You can paste the copied Split with the
Split->Paste command to another empty or existing preset.
- Split->Paste - This will paste the
current clipboard data to a new or existing instrument. If the clipboard contains preset
data, all preset splits will be copied, otherwise only the split in the clipboard is
copied.
Note: All of these commands are also available with buttons on the presets page or with commands from the main menu. Each
clipboard copy operation erases the old data. Also clipboard data is cleared when you
delete the associated preset or split !
Selecting and deselecting an
instrument for a Preset
Initially all Presets of Virtual
Sampler are empty. You can select an instrument for a preset by performing one of the
following tasks:
- Use drag&drop within the presets
grid to move, copy or insert preset data from another preset.
- Use the clipboard operations
(Preset->Copy, Preset->Paste, Split->Copy, Split->Paste) as noted above.
- Use drag&drop from the bank viewer
on the right side of the Virtual Sampler Main window to move
or copy a preset depending on the settings of "Action on drop".
- Use drag&drop from the split
control panel on the bottom of the Virtual Sampler Main window
to move or copy a split depending on the settings of "Action on drop".
- Use the "New" button on the
"Presets page" to create a new, empty instrument
at the current bank/program position. The instrument will be named "Untitled"
and does initially not contain any splits. See "Working
with Splits" and "Working with Samples"
for information on how to create splits for instruments.
- Use the "Load Sample" button
on the "Presets page" or the "File|Load
Sample" command from the menubar to load a new sample for the currently selected
preset (see "Working with splits"). If the
preset is empty, a new instrument called "Untitled" will be created and will be
filled with the data from the sample load.
- Use the "File|Open" command
from the menubar. This will open an existing Virtual Sampler bank (extension .vbk) and
loads its preset data to the sampler memory. All existing presets will be lost and will be
overwritten with the preset data from the file load.
- Use the "File|Import .tti
Instrument" or "File|Import .94i Instrument" or the "File|Load SF2
Bank" commands from the menubar to convert an instrument or a bank in another sound
file format to Virtual Sampler format. See "Importing
Instruments" and "Converting
from other sound file formats" for details. If you load a whole bank (SF2), all
existing presets will be lost and will be overwritten with the preset data from the file
load. Otherwise it is required that you select an empty Preset.
To erase an instrument for a preset,
you can use the "Delete" button. Note that all splits for the preset are erased
from memory. If the associated sample data is not part of another preset or split, it will
be lost.
To rearrange Preset locations, use
drag&drop operations on the presets grid with the appropriate "Action on
drop" value set. Sett the "Presets page" for
details on "Action on drop".
To activate a preset, click on the
preset in the presets grid on the presets page or
doubleclick onto the appropriate entry in the bank viewer on the right side of the Virtual Sampler Main window.
No77te: Instruments or even splits that have equal data bytes in their sample
data will only be stored once. That means if you have 2 or more instruments or 2 or more
splits (in the same or in another instrument) that access the same sample, this sample
will only be stored once. This prevents from a waste of sample memory. The integrity of
the samples is maintained by the sampler. If you modify a shared sample (for example by
changing its sample rate), you will be asked to copy the sample or to perform the action
on all shared samples for all instruments or splits that access this sample.
Virtual Sampler "Preset"
and "Multi" mode
Virtual Sampler knows two modes of
MIDI operation: Preset and Multi mode. This is set in the toolbar of the Virtual Sampler Main window with the appropriate switch.
In Preset mode
- Virtual Sampler will receive MIDI data
on all 16 MIDI channels but only one instrument is played - the selected preset. The
OnScreen keyboard also plays the selected preset.
- Virtual Sampler will receive bank and
program change commands (when selected in the "Settings
page") but it will ignore them.
- Virtual Sampler will use the effect
send level ("effect sends for preset mode") from the Effects
page to apply effects to splits.
- In Preset mode you only can use one
Preset at a time - the selected preset inside the presets grid.
In Multi mode
- Virtual Sampler will receive MIDI data
on all 16 MIDI channels. Depending on the Preset selection for multi channels in the multi page, the appropriate preset is played. If the selected
preset in the presets grid is not selected into the current multi, it can only be played
with the OnScreen keyboard.
- Virtual Sampler will receive bank and
program change commands (when selected in the "Settings
page") and will change the currently selected multi accordingly. This can be used
to dynamically change sounds.
- Virtual Sampler will use the effect
send levels from the multi channels on the Multi page to apply
effects to splits.
- In Multi mode you can use up to 16
Presets at a time. You dynamically can change these 16 Presets with bank/program change MIDI commands.
The Virtual Sampler load mechanism
for Presets
By default Virtual Sampler loads
splits into memory when the first note inside the split's key range is played with the
OnScreen keyboard. This can result in a delay when you have large splits, but it is
suitable for edit mode where the latency is not so important. For real operation you can
select the "Load Preset on selection" checkbox on the Presets
page. If selected, all split data for a preset is loaded when the preset is selected.
This will result in a delay depending on the size of the preset, but once a preset is
loaded into memory, access to the splits is very fast without a noticeable delay.
Note: When selecting a preset for a multi in the "Multi
page", the preset is always loaded to memory no matter of the settings of
"Load Preset on selection". This switch is only important when working with the
presets grid.