vI.I Reference Manual · Contents 1 Introduction 7 1.1 What’s new in version 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2 Buying and Unlocking

vI.IReference Manual

by zplane.development

October 4, 2007

c© Copyright 2007 zplane.development. All rights reserved.

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copiedonly in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational useonly, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by zplane.development.zplane.development assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in thisbook.

Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the priorwritten permission of zplane.development. zplane.development is a trademark of zplane.development. Mac,the Mac logo and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. VST is a trademarkof Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All other product and company names are trademarks or registeredtrademarks of their respective holders.

http://www.zplane.de

Contents

1 Introduction 71.1 What’s new in version 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Buying and Unlocking vielklang 102.1 Buying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.1.1 Web-Shop Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.2 Unlocking Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.3 Unlock Key Validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3 Getting Started 123.1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.1.1 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123.1.2 MacOsX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3.2 Loading vielklang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.3 Interface Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.4 Loading Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.5 Playing the Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.6 Changing the Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.7 Save and Undo Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4 Basic Concepts 184.1 Automatic Behavior vs. User Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.2 Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.3 Storing Snapshots, Presets, and other Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.4 Playback Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.5 Enharmonic Pitch and Harmony Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5 User Interface 215.1 Interface Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225.2 Menu Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.2.1 Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245.2.2 Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245.2.3 Undo & Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245.2.4 Note Cut Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255.2.5 Zoom Control Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255.2.6 Cursor Follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.2.7 Voice Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.2.8 About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

5.3 Host Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.3.1 Trigger Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.3.2 Start and End Marker Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285.3.3 Tempo Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

5.4 Tuning Freq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305.5 Pitch View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

5.5.1 Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315.5.2 Visualization Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.5.3 Editing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.5.4 Mute Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.5.5 Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.5.6 Harmony Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

5.6 Melody Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355.7 Harmonization Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5.7.1 Intelligent Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365.7.2 Parallel Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375.7.3 Edit Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.8 Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395.9 Voice Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.9.1 Performance Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405.9.2 Fine-Tune Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415.9.3 Voice Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425.9.4 Voice Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5.9.5 Stereo Mix Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

6 vielklang outputs 436.1 Audio Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

6.1.1 Live Stereo Mix-Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436.1.2 Live Single-Voice Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436.1.3 Save Audio as File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

6.2 MIDI Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436.2.1 Live Midi-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446.2.2 Drag’n’Drop Midi-Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446.2.3 Save Midi as File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

7 vielklang HowTo 457.1 HowTo: Load vielklang in your host application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

7.1.1 ableton Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457.1.2 Apple Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457.1.3 Cakewalk Sonar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477.1.4 Digidesign Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487.1.5 Image-Line FLStudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497.1.6 Steinberg Cubase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

7.2 HowTo: Change the playback tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507.3 HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

7.3.1 Adjusting overall properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517.3.2 Change Single Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517.3.3 Split Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527.3.4 Mute Single Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527.3.5 Edit Single Pitches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

7.4 HowTo: Move or Mute several notes simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.5 HowTo: Use the Snapshot System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

7.5.1 Storing a state for later reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.5.2 Playing different parts of the harmonization on different MIDI triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

7.5.3 Playing the same part with different harmonizations on different MIDI triggers . . . . . . . 547.5.4 Playing different snapshots with different tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547.5.5 Use different scales/keys for different parts of you input data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

7.6 HowTo: Edit the Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557.6.1 Force a voice to the equally tempered scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557.6.2 Change the amount of vibrato per voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557.6.3 Modify the tuning frequency of all voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

7.7 HowTo: Trigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567.8 HowTo: Enhance the Naturalness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

8 Troubleshooting 588.1 Plugin doesn’t show up in the host after installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588.2 Unlocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588.3 Saving/Rendering/Freezing does not work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588.4 The input melody is automatically modified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588.5 Midi-Output does not work with the AudioUnit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

9 Technology 609.1 Key Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609.2 Voice Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609.3 Harmony Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609.4 Voice Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609.5 Third Party Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

10 Feedback and Support 62

11 Glossary 63Index 71

1 Introduction 7

1 Introduction

Thank you for using zplane vielklang, a plugin instrument representing the next generation of audio harmo-nization. vielklang allows you to load any single-voiced melody and get a fully harmonized four-voice outputinstantly even without musical knowledge of the user. It allows you to completely focus on the musical issuesrather than technical or theoretical ones.

Figure 1: Interface in action

vielklang is not just a harmonizer, it is packed with musical intelligence and music theory: it automaticallydetects the best fitting harmonies for each individual input melody, and automatically synthesizes four voiceswith the pitches not running in parallel but automatically selected to sound most natural (voice leading). Younever have to bother about things like root note, scale, tuning frequency, harmony progression, voice leadingetc., although you can, if you want to.

With vielklang, you can thus easily generate and trial background vocals and brass sections, modifymelodies and single-voice loops, and experiment with different harmonizations or chords triggered by differ-ent MIDI-inputs.

1 Introduction 8

For news on vielklang or to get in touch with other users, please visit the vielklang website and join thecommunity.

1.1 What’s new in version 1.1

We are proud to claim that the release of version 1.1 will make vielklang an even more useful and powerfulharmonization tool.

New Features of this version include:

• additional RTAS version

• Timing Humanization Control

• Two-Voice Harmonization Mode

• availability of four-voiced (7th) chords

• single note splitting and muting

• the ability to save harmonization as audio and/or Midi to file

• drag’n’drop snapshots as Midi-harmonization or Midi-triggers to sequencer

• multiple pitch selection in edit mode

The General Features of zplane vielklang at a glance

Key Features

• instant 4 or 2-Voice-harmonization of any single-voiced audio input

• integrated voice leading rules, resulting in most natural automatic harmonizations

• automatic harmony estimation from input melody

• one-click modification of key scales (e.g. major to minor)

Plugin Features

• snapshot system allowing multiple harmonizations per audio input

• audio-to-MIDI functionality

• automatic host tempo synchronization

http://vielklang.zplane.de

http://www.zplane.de/forum

1 Introduction 9

• multiple Undo and Redo functionality

• stereo mixdown of harmonization as well as individual voice outputs

• automatic estimation of pitch and note length, key

• high quality formant preserving pitch shifting and time stretching

Edit Features

• one-click modification of harmonies

• easy interaction with harmonization parameters like range (ambitus) or the distribution of the voices

• full control over every single note from all voices in edit mode

• adjustment of pitch quantization, delay, timbre, timing, volume, and pan for each voice individually

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Features

• piano roll view of audio file with time overview and zoom options

• optional display of frequency curve, key grid and beat grid

• maximize and minimize control bars to adjust the plugin’s GUI, optimizing the workflow

2 Buying and Unlocking vielklang 10

2 Buying and Unlocking vielklang

2.1 Buying

vielklang is exclusively available online, please access the web-shop via the vielklang website.

Alternatively, you may also simply hit the Buy-Button in vielklang’s registration dialogue to open the web-shop directly. You can find the registration dialogue by clicking on the vielklang logo (top-right in the pluginwindow) and then on Reg. The unregistered version will show this dialogue automatically on loading or openingvielklang.

Note that the Code is bound to your machine, so make sure you use the code from the machine vielklang shouldbe running on.

The online buying process requires you to submit the string you see in the Code: field of theregistration dialogue (see Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Required Code for Unlocking

After your purchase, you will receive the unlock-key for vielklang via email.


2 Buying and Unlocking vielklang 11

2.1.1 Web-Shop Security

The transaction is carried out via shareit (www.shareit.com), utilizing a security certificate issued by VeriSign Inc.The server supports SSL Version 3 and 168/112-Bit Triple DES encryption. All online shoppers who nonethelessfeel uncomfortable using their credit cards online can also order using the fax form at the end of the order page.

2.2 Unlocking Procedure

After you have received your unlock-key via email, you are ready to open the registration dialogue (click on thevielklang logo top-right and then on Reg.) and enter your registration information.

Please ensure to enter all registration information exactly as you had in the web-shop form,including lower and upper case letters.

2.3 Unlock Key Validity

The unlock-key is valid for all plugin formats on one platform. For example on MacOsX, you may use theVSTi-version, the AU version, the RTAS version or all of them, just as you wish.

3 Getting Started 12

3 Getting Started

This chapter will help you with your first steps working with vielklang.

3.1 Installation

3.1.1 Windows

System Requirements

Before installing vielklang on your computer, please make sure that your system meets the requirements:

• Operating System: Windows 2000, XP, Vista

• Processor frequency > 1.5GHz

• VSTi- or RTAS-compatible host application

Installation

• Download the vielklang windows installation binary (*.exe) (find the most recent install package at thevielklang website)

• double-click on the downloaded file

• click next in the installer window

• read the license agreement and if you agree, click next

• follow the instructions of the installer

3.1.2 MacOsX

System Requirements

Before installing vielklang on your computer, please make sure that your system meets the requirements:

• Operating System: MacOsX 10.4.x

• Processor frequency > 1.5GHz

• VSTi-, AU- or RTAS-compatible host application



Installation

• download the vielklang mac install package (*.dmg) (find the most recent install package at the vielklangwebsite)

• double-click on the downloaded file and run the appearing .mpkg-file

• click continue in the installer window

• read the license agreement and if you agree, click next

• follow the instructions of the installer

3.2 Loading vielklang

Load the vielklang instrument just like you would load any other virtual instrument; the detailed proceduredepends on the host application you are using.

Although vielklang extensively processes audio data, it is not a real-time audio effect but a virtual instrument.This means that you have to load the audio data into the plugin (see below), and are able to control the audioplayback via MIDI input.

See also:

• Section 7.1: HowTo: Load vielklang in your host application




3.3 Interface Overview

Figure 3: Interface overview

At the top of the plugin interface is a small Menu Bar containing basic controls like file load and save, undo, etc.The rest of the graphical interface is made up of 4 groups of controls:

1. Pitch View: piano-roll display of the harmonizer output (location in the middle of the interface, for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.5)

2. Host Synchronization: settings controlling the communication with the host (location above the Pitch View,for a detailed description, please refer to Section 5.3)

3. Voice Settings: settings controlling the audio properties of each single voice, including the mixdown set-


tings for the stereo output (location below the Pitch View, for a detailed description, please refer to Section5.9)

4. Harmonization Controls (location right of the Pitch View):

• Melody Properties: settings containing some basic musical properties of the input audio (for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.6)

• Harmonization Settings: settings controlling the harmonization (for a detailed description, please referto Section 5.7)

• Snapshots: controls to manage different snapshots, i.e. different configuration status (for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.8)

Each of the control groups, except the Pitch View as the most important one, can be hidden or restored byclicking the small orange bar (left or top) of the group.

3.4 Loading Audio

After an empty instance of vielklang has been loaded, the (single-voiced) audio data has to be loaded for theharmonization. To load an audio file, click on the load button and choose the audio file you want to harmonize.Alternatively, you have the option to drag and drop an audio file from a host track, if the host supports thisfunctionality (note that for most host applications you cannot just drag and drop a region or clip, but shouldrender it to a file first).

Note that the input audio has to be single-voiced to be used in the context of this instrument. Alsonote that regions have to be consolidated/rendered to one single audio file before being dropped

into vielklang.

On opening, the audio file is analyzed to extract the note information. This analysis process may take sometime for long input files. After successful analysis, a piano roll display of the original melody and the additionalvoices are displayed. Automatically extracted information (root note, key) is shown in the Melody Properties,see Section 5.6.


The original melody is always displayed in the color orange.

See also:

• Section 5.2: Menu Bar• Section 5.6: Melody Properties

3.5 Playing the Harmonization

In the default configuration, vielklang will automatically output a stereo mix when you hit play in your host(provided that the plugin outputs are connected). In this case, vielklang is in Time Trigger Mode and willstart to play at time 00 : 00. If you have a MIDI keyboard connected to vielklang’s MIDI input, you can alsoswitch to MIDI Trigger Mode in the Host Synchronization bar and hit the note C3 on your keyboard.

See also:

• Section 4.4: Playback Synchronization• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection• Section 7.7: HowTo: Trigger

3.6 Changing the Harmonization

With vielklang you are able to switch between two automatic harmonization modes:

• Intelligent Harmonization: automatically estimate the melody’s underlying harmonies and generateone/three additional voices taking into account voice-leading rules (see Section 5.7.1)

• Parallel Harmonization: this mode is what can be referred to as traditional harmonization; for each voice,a specific interval can be selected, resulting in four voices moving in parallel, see Section 5.7.2

Furthermore, there is the Edit Harmonization mode (see Section 5.7.3), enabling detailed editing options andthus allowing the user full control over each pitch.

Focusing on the intelligent mode in the context of this section, we can simply make musical changes by modifyingthe scale (see Glossary:11), the distribution of voices (i.e. how many voices should be harmonized above andbelow the melody), and the overall pitch range of the harmonization. We may also change the harmony on a


specific pitch location by simply clicking on the displayed harmony in the Pitch View between piano roll and timeoverview and selecting a different chord.

See also:

• Section 5.7: Harmonization Settings• Section 5.5: Pitch View• Section 7.3: HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization

3.7 Save and Undo Changes

Please note that load and save functionality is restricted with the demo version! Please refer to thevielklang website for more information.

The current status and all snapshots/snapshot settings are automatically saved by the host on saving the hostproject.

To undo any action, use the undo and redo control buttons in the menu bar.

See also:

• Section 5.2: Menu Bar• Section 5.8: Snapshots


4 Basic Concepts 18

4 Basic Concepts

4.1 Automatic Behavior vs. User Interaction

vielklang was built with one main goal in mind: to free the user from thinking about (music) theory andunnecessary configuration issues, so that the optimal standard solution is guessed in any case without userinteraction. This means that absolutely no knowledge is required to get a (musically) meaningful output; evenjust playing around with the controls will get you to musically meaningful results.

On the other hand, you are able to interact with the software, e.g. even edit the harmonization on a note by notebasis to achieve exactly what you require.

4.2 Harmonization

Up to three additional voices are synthesized from the input audio via formant-preserving pitch-shifting. Toensure optimum quality, the additional voices have - naturally except the pitch itself - the same properties as themelody, including note start and stop times, vibrato, timbre (shape). There are however some controls to modifythese parameters in the Voice Settings control bar (see Section 5.9).

The actual pitches of the additional voices are either calculated by the automatic harmonizer modes: IntelligentHarmonization or Parallel Harmonization or can be defined manually in the Edit Harmonization.

See also:

• Section 5.9: Voice Settings• Section 5.7: Harmonization Settings• Section 7.3: HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization

4.3 Storing Snapshots, Presets, and other Data

In the context of loading and storing parameters and parameter changes, vielklang distinguishes betweentwo kinds of parameters: those controllable (also automated) by the host (Preset Parameters) and internalparameters (Snapshot Parameters).

The first parameter group is constituted by all parameters in the Voice Settings (see Section 5.9) menu and canbe stored and loaded with Presets and controlled by the host.

The internal parameters, being basically all parameters except the “host controllable parameters” can be man-aged by the so-called Snapshots. A Snapshot stores the complete plugin status at a time, including not onlyharmonization settings, but also the current trigger settings as well as the start and end markers. That allows

4 Basic Concepts 19

you not only to store the status at different working steps for later reference and comparison, but also to trig-ger different parts of the harmonized input audio with different MIDI notes (with the help of the start and stopmarkers), or to change harmonization settings between the different Snapshots and Trigger Selections.

The snapshot system is thus an open and flexible way to work with vielklang. For example, it allows youto load a short excerpt of a vocal track like a refrain and trigger it from different MIDI triggers for differentharmonization settings. Or, you may load a long instrument track, and set the markers for each part you want toharmonize and store it to an individual snapshot with individual MIDI trigger.

The pitch analysis data for every input file is automatically stored in the same folder as the input file.

See also:

• Section 5.9: Voice Settings• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 7.5: HowTo: Use the Snapshot System

4.4 Playback Synchronization

It is important to differentiate between the different time scales used in the context of vielklang. On the onehand, there is naturally the host time scale, on the other hand the internal time scale, starting from 00 : 00 withthe beginning of the input audio file. Internal points in time like start and end marker times are always set relativeto the internal time scale.

The Time Trigger Mode, the mode that is activated by default when opening vielklang, can be understoodas a “draft mode” that allows automatic sync to the host time without the need of a dedicated MIDI trigger. Thestart time of vielklang playback can be shifted relatively to host time by adjusting the Host <> Plug Offset(you can also use the Set-Button to use the current host’s play marker position as offset.

While the Time Trigger Mode is easy and fast to configure, the usual option to trigger vielklang would be bysingle MIDI notes, called MIDI Trigger Mode. To do so, simply activate MIDI in the Host Synchronization bar, setthe MIDI note vielklang should react on, and play this note at the appropriate time at vielklangs input.

If tempo synchronization is activated, the audio sample’s tempo is changed to the hosts tempo.

See also:

• Section 5.3: Host Synchronization• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection• Section 7.2: HowTo: Change the playback tempo

4 Basic Concepts 20

4.5 Enharmonic Pitch and Harmony Labels

vielklang does not differentiate between flat and sharp tones but assumes them to be enharmonically equiv-alent. This means for example that the pitch e flat is always displayed as d sharp. This for example, results inthe following notes to be assumed identical:

G 4 2

5 User Interface 21

5 User Interface

This chapter gives you a detailed overview of the usage and functionality of each graphical user interface controlelement of vielklang.

5 User Interface 22

5.1 Interface Overview

Figure 4: Interface overview

At the top of the plugin interface is a small Menu Bar containing basic controls like file load and save, undo, etc.The rest of the graphical interface is made up of 4 groups of controls:

1. Pitch View: piano-roll display of the harmonizer output (location in the middle of the interface, for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.5)

2. Host Synchronization: settings controlling the communication with the host (location above the Pitch View,for a detailed description, please refer to Section 5.3)

3. Voice Settings: settings controlling the audio properties of each single voice, including the mixdown set-

5 User Interface 23

tings for the stereo output (location below the Pitch View, for a detailed description, please refer to Section5.9)

4. Harmonization Controls (location right of the Pitch View):

• Melody Properties: settings containing some basic musical properties of the input audio (for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.6)

• Harmonization Settings: settings controlling the harmonization (for a detailed description, please referto Section 5.7)

• Snapshots: controls to manage different snapshots, i.e. different configuration status (for a detaileddescription, please refer to Section 5.8)

Each of the control groups, except the Pitch View as the most important one, can be hidden or restored byclicking the small orange bar (left or top) of the group.

The following paragraphs will give you a detailed overview of each control element and its implications.

5 User Interface 24

5.2 Menu Bar

The Menu Bar offers basic controls for the plugin. These controls, from left to right, are: Load, Save, Undo,Redo, Note Cute Mode, 4x Zoom Control Buttons, Cursor Follow, Single Voice Output, and, on the right, theabout logo. They are explained below.

5.2.1 Load

Click on this button to open the file manager and load a new audio file. Supported audio file formats are RIFF(Wav), AIFF/C, EBU RF64 (wav).

Alternatively, you may load a new audio file by dropping it on the instrument’s interface.

On opening an unknown audio file, it is analyzed in order to automatically extract its properties (Notes, Key andTuning Frequency). This information (partly displayed in the Melody Properties) is then stored right beside theaudio file (with the file extension .zpa) in order to be able to skip the analysis stage when the file is loaded again.

See also:

• Section 5.6: Melody Properties

5.2.2 Save

The Save Button allows you to render the current harmonization to a file; you can export it either as audio (stereomix) or as Midi file.

See also:

• Section 6: vielklang outputs

5.2.3 Undo & Redo

To undo or redo all your configuration changes (except the changes in the Voice Settings that can be controlledby host automation), you may hit these buttons. Currently, up to 32 operations can be undone. The internalUndo-list is deleted when a new input file is loaded.

5 User Interface 25

5.2.4 Note Cut Mode

This button enables the Note Cut Mode. In this mode, you can split single notes into two or more notes by simplyclicking on them at the right location. That enables you for example to select different harmonies for differentparts of the splitted note, or mute single parts of the note, or move single note parts in edit mode. When youattempt to cut a note, you will see the time and bar position in a small additional field displayed in the top-rightcorner of the Pitch View.

5.2.5 Zoom Control Buttons

The Zoom buttons control the displayed region in the Pitch View.

View All

Click to zoom out fully, i.e. to see the complete harmonization. Alternatively, Ctrl+Shift+Click on the PitchView background.

Scale to current play region

Click to see the current play region, i.e. the region between start and end marker.

Scale vertically

Click to zoom out vertically in order to display all voices in the current horizontal region (i.e. see the wholepitch display range, do not alter current time range). Alternatively, Shift+Click on the Pitch View background.

Scale horizontally

Click to zoom out horizontally and display the complete length of the input file (i.e. see the whole time range,do not alter current pitch display range).

See also:

• Section 5.5: Pitch View

5 User Interface 26

5.2.6 Cursor Follow

Enable this option to allow the Pitch View to follow the current play position. If not enabled, the displayed timeregion will not follow the host’s play position.

See also:

• Section 5.5: Pitch View

5.2.7 Voice Output

Enable this option to activate the single voice outputs additionally to the stereo mixdown output, resulting in fouradditional stereo outputs. The available outputs are ordered mixdown, orange, red, blue, green (i.e. mixdown,input melody, lowest synthesized voice, middle synthesized voice, highest synthesized voice).

See also:

• Section 6.1: Audio Out

5.2.8 About

On clicking the vielklang logo, registration and unlocking information and information about zplanevielklang is displayed.

See also:

• Section 2: Buying and Unlocking vielklang

5 User Interface 27

5.3 Host Synchronization

All host synchronization settings can be found in the topmost control bar. These are not global settings, but canbe edited and adjusted per snapshot (see Snapshots, Sec. 5.8) (except for the tempo synchronization settingwhich is global).

To hide the Host Synchronization control bar, click on the orange bar on the left.

The single controls are explained below from left to right.

5.3.1 Trigger Selection

vielklang playback can be triggered either by time information automatically provided by the host (TimeTrigger Mode) or by a MIDI Note-On command (MIDI Trigger Mode). The Time Trigger Mode -activated asdefault when loading vielklang- can be understood as a draft mode and automatically synchronizes the playtime to the host cursor without requiring a MIDI input. The MIDI Trigger Mode is the option normally used in aproduction context, enabling all the possibilities offered by Snapshots.

The mode can be selected by clicking on one of the buttons on the left-hand side of the Host Synchronizationbar (labeled “Time” and “MIDI”, respectively).

Figure 5: Time Host Synchronization and Fine-Tuning settings

The Time Trigger Mode especially makes sense if you are working on the end of a long harmonization, andwant to listen to the current changes without starting to play the whole harmonization with a MIDI trigger fromthe beginning. It synchronizes the plugin play time automatically to the host play time. If the zero position of theinput file does not correspond to the zero position of the host, you have to adjust the Host <> Plug Offset tothe time where the instrument’s zero time position should be. This can be done either by grabbing the displayup and down with the mouse, or by adjusting the host’s play cursor1 to the correct position and clicking on thebutton Set besides the Host <> Plug Offset field.

1 Some hosts like Logic require you to hit play and stop to correctly adjust the internal cursor position.

5 User Interface 28

Most Hosts do not support rendering or freezing in Time Synchronization Mode (with the argumentthat an instrument without input will not generate an output). There is no way to solve this, but you

can circumvent this problem by placing a “dummy” MIDI trigger note in the input MIDI track.

Figure 6: MIDI Host Synchronization and Fine-Tuning settings

When the MIDI Trigger Mode is enabled, you may adjust the MIDI pitch used to trigger the playback of thecurrent snapshot with the controls MIDI Pitch and Octave. The MIDI trigger mode is “play until key release”, i.e.vielklang will start playback with the MIDI Note On command, and will stop with the MIDI Note Off command(or with the end of the audio/play region).

You are able to set different MIDI trigger notes for different Snapshots, allowing you to play different harmo-nization or audio parts on different MIDI notes. Each Snapshot’s selected MIDI trigger is also shown in theSnapshots window.

See also:

• Section 7.7: HowTo: Trigger• Section 5.8: Snapshots

5.3.2 Start and End Marker Positions

The start and end markers can be set to mark the actual region that is played back on the host’s trigger. Theycan be alternatively adjusted in the Pitch View (see Section 5.5). In the Host Synchronization control bar, eachmarker position can be modified either by grabbing the corresponding display up and down with the mouse, orby adjusting the host’s play cursor2 to the correct position and clicking on the button Set beside the start andend marker position fields, respectively.

2 Some hosts like Logic require you to hit play and stop to correctly adjust the internal cursor position.

5 User Interface 29

The Set button is only active when the Time trigger mode is activated, because the marker positiondepends on the Host <> Plug Offset.

The initial default position of the markers is the beginning and end of the loaded audio file, respectively.

See also:

• Section 5.5.5: Marker• Section 7.7: HowTo: Trigger

5.3.3 Tempo Synchronization

When deactivated, the “harmonization tempo” of vielklang is constant, and is the same as the original tempoof the input melody. When activated, the playback speed is adapted to the host tempo with time stretching. Thisis done relative to the tempo displayed in the Melody Properties.

See also:

• Section 7.2: HowTo: Change the playback tempo

5 User Interface 30

5.4 Tuning Freq

This option, right beside the Host Synchronization settings, adjusts the overall tuning frequency (frequency ofthe standard pitch a) of the results. If the tuning frequency of the audio output does not completely fit the restof your project, you can smoothly shift the whole harmonization, i.e. all voices, up and down a small frequencyamount. Use this control if you recognize for example a beating frequency between the harmonized voices andother pitches from your complete project. Note that this control is neither intended to change the key, which canbe done by the Root Note control (see Sec. 5.7.1), nor to quantize the pitch frequencies, which can be done bythe Voice Tune and Voice Drift controls in the Voice Settings.

Figure 7: Fine-Tuning settings on the right hand side

The initial setting of the tuning frequency is extracted automatically from the loaded melody. Do not modify thisif you are not sure what you are doing.

See also:

• Section 5.7.1: Root Note and Scale• Section 5.9.2: Voice Tune• Section 5.9.2: Voice Drift• Section 7.6: HowTo: Edit the Tuning

5 User Interface 31

5.5 Pitch View

The Pitch View shows detailed information on the harmonization of the current snapshot in a classic piano rolldisplay (i.e. ascending piano keys on the y-axis and time on the x-axis, with a single note displayed as a smallbar). A distinct color has been assigned to each of the four voices to enhance quick differentiation.

The melody voice is always colored orange.

A melody-over-time overview displaying the melody pitches over the whole input time is shown above the PianoRoll. It helps you to quickly navigate for example if you have zoomed in by using your mouse.

If a pitch in the melody line has been changed, the original pitch is visualized as an orange line (see e.g. Fig 9in the middle). The possible reason for changed melody pitches depends on the harmonization mode chosen:

• Intelligent Harmonization: changes in the melody can happen if the melody pitches are forced to the scale,see Root Note and Scale, Sec. 5.7.1

• Parallel Harmonization: changes in the melody can happen if the melody pitches are forced to the scale,see Root Note and Scale, Sec. 5.7.1, or if the interval of the melody voice (orange) is not a Prime

• Edit Harmonization: changes in the melody can be caused either by the initial harmonization settingswhen entering the edit mode, or by moving melody pitches by hand

5.5.1 Navigation

Several option exist to navigate in the Pitch View:

• Drag the background to scroll the view in all directions

• Ctrl+Drag the background up or left to zoom in vertically or horizontally, or down and right to zoom out.

• Ctrl+Shift+Click to zoom out fully.

• Shift+Click to zoom out vertically.

• Use your mouse wheel to zoom in and out horizontally, or additionally hold the Alt-key to zoom in and outvertically.

• Use the Zoom Control Buttons as described in Section 5.2.5.

5 User Interface 32

• In the Melody Overview above the piano roll display, use your mouse to enlarge or reduce the displayedarea horizontally, or move the displayed area with your mouse.

See also:

• Section 5.2.5: Zoom Control Buttons

5.5.2 Visualization Options

Three visualization modes can be enabled or disabled by three buttons in the top left corner of the Pitch View:

• The Key button enables or disables the visualization of the current key on the Pitch View background.Pitches belonging to the current key will have a lighter background color than pitches not in the key. Thekey visualized corresponds to the scale set in the Harmonization Settings.

• The Freq button enables or disables the display of the extracted frequency curve of the orange melodyline.

• The Beat button enables or disables the display of a beat grid in the pitch view background.

If you move the mouse over a note, a small field will appear on top-right position of the Pitch View that displaysthe chord label at this position. This visualization is especially helpful in the edit mode when you move singlenotes up and down to change the underlying chord.

5.5.3 Editing Options

The editing options are determined by the harmonization state selected.

In the Intelligent Harmonization mode, the estimated harmony of every melody pitch can be modified via theHarmony Bar (see below). To change global properties of the harmonization, use the Harmonization Settings.

In the Parallel Harmonization mode, you cannot edit anything in the pitch view. To change global properties ofthe harmonization, use the Harmonization Settings.

5 User Interface 33

In the Edit Harmonization mode, you may move every note to the pitch you want.

See also:

• Section 5.5.6: Harmony Bar• Section 5.7.1: Intelligent Harmonization• Section 5.7.2: Parallel Harmonization• Section 5.7.3: Edit Harmonization• Section 7.3: HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization

5.5.4 Mute Notes

To mute single notes in your harmonization, right-click on the note and select the mute symbol in the menu. Youcan also mute several notes at once by holding the Shift-keys while selecting and muting notes.

Figure 8: Muting and un-muting of single notes, and muting of all harmony voices for one note (from left to right)

To mute all harmony voices for one input note (except the melody note), right-click on the corresponding harmonybar position.

To mute a whole voice, you can do so with the Mute button in the Voice Settings.

5.5.5 Marker

Directly above of the piano roll (below overview and harmony bar), you may move the start and end markersby dragging the small handle. These markers define the Play Region that is the active region in the current

5 User Interface 34

snapshot. This means that only the harmonization in this Play Region is synthesized, and when triggered byMIDI, the playback starts at the start marker and stops at the end marker.

The marker positions are displayed in the Host Synchronization bar, where they can also be adjusted manually.If you want to snap the current marker position to the nearest note onset, move the marker roughly to the correctlocation, left click on the marker handle and choose “Set to closest Pitch”.

To reset markers to their default positions, left click on the marker handle and choose either “Reset” or “Resetboth Markers”, dependent on if this should affect one or both markers, respectively.

See also:

• Section 5.3.2: Start and End Marker Positions• Section 7.7: HowTo: Trigger

5.5.6 Harmony Bar

The Harmony Bar, found between the piano roll and the overview display, is only present in the IntelligentHarmonization mode. It shows the harmony generated by the four voices for each melody note on the timeline. The initial harmony at each position is automatically estimated during the analysis process when loadinga new input file. If for any reasons at any note a different harmony should be used, you may simply click on theharmony of this note and change it.

The three (three-voiced) harmonies displayed first are those that include the melody pitch in the current key, butyou may also select any other harmony belonging to the current key.

If a new harmony is selected, the harmonization context may change because the selected harmony may haveinfluences on the voice leading. But it will not affect preceding or following chords, just the voicing itself. TheMelody will never be changed by altering the harmony, even when selecting a four-voiced harmony. The settingof a new harmony interacts with the voice-leading engine, so it might happen that the chord is not complete, butcontains only the main pitches of the selected harmony.

The different chord labels are explained in the Glossary, Section 11.

See also:

• Section 5.7.1: Intelligent Harmonization• Section 7.3: HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization• Section 11: Chord Labels

5 User Interface 35

5.6 Melody Properties

vielklang automatically extracts the key, the tuning frequency and specifics of each note including start andend time, mean frequency as well as the overall frequency variation on loading a new audio file. The displayedtempo (in BPM) is adjusted to the current host tempo. If it is incorrect it can be adjusted by the user eitherdirectly or via the buttons on its right hand side.

Sometimes, especially with short audio examples only containing a few notes, the key cannot be correctlydetected. In these rare cases, the Root Note, and the input scale can be manually corrected by the user.

Root Note, Scale and Tempo should always be set to the correct values as property of the inputmelody. If incorrect Root and Scale are chosen by the user, vielklang could produce strange

results.

All Melody Properties settings are not global, but can be adjusted per snapshot.

5 User Interface 36

5.7 Harmonization Settings

vielklang offers two automatic harmonization modes, (Intelligent Harmonization, Parallel Harmonization) andone manual mode (Edit Harmonization).

All Harmonization Settings settings are not global, but can be adjusted per snapshot.

5.7.1 Intelligent Harmonization

The intelligent harmonization mode is the heart of the zplane vielklang technology. Based on the inputmelody and its key, the optimal harmony progression is estimated and the distribution of all voices in the time-pitch space based on voice leading rules is automatically calculated.

This process does not require user interaction and guarantees a musically meaningful result. However, the samemelody in different contexts could require different harmonizations. To take this fact into account, parameteradjustments to the harmonization are possible; overall settings can be changed with the controls given in theharmonization settings window, while the harmony can be changed on a note per note basis in the Pitch View’sHarmony Bar (see Section 5.5).

The following controls are used to adjust the overall harmonization settings:

Root Note and Scale

The selection of a different scale allows you for example to convert a melody or loop of the initial Major scaleinto a Minor scale or any other scale. The changes naturally apply to the complete harmonization.

To shift the whole harmonization result up and down e.g. to fit a different key, use the Root Note control.

Snap-Melody-to-Scale

This is a small check button on the right hand side of Root Note and Scale, labeled with “S”. In most cases,you won’t have to worry about this option. It can be useful if the melody contains pitches that are theoreticallynot present in the key set in the Melody Properties. If enabled, all pitches of the melody are forced to thescale, if disabled, the melody will preserve its original pitches. If all melody pitches are already in the key, nopitches will be altered, no matter if enabled or disabled.

Style

Choose the style you want for the harmonization. Currently, two styles are supported: 4-Voice and 2-VoiceHarmonization.

5 User Interface 37

Voice Arrangement

This slider lets you select how many of the three additional voices are below and above of the melody (beingcolored orange).

Voice Range

This slider lets you adjust the range of the additional voices around the melody. Move it up to have a widearrangement and down to make your arrangement tight.

5.7.2 Parallel Harmonization

The Parallel Harmonization Mode is what you may know from traditional harmonizers, by some people alreadycalled “intelligent”: the voices always run parallel, but the exact interval (i.e. major or minor third) is automaticallyadjusted according to the selected key (i.e. the correct diatonic interval is chosen).

Several controls are identical to the controls in the (real) intelligent mode:

Root Note and Scale

see description above

Snap-Melody-to-Scale


Style


Below these controls, you may adjust the (diatonic) interval per voice, relative to the melody pitches.

5.7.3 Edit Harmonization

In the edit mode, you have the option to modify each pitch of every voice independently by dragging it with themouse (you may also shift several notes simultaneously by selecting them with Shift+Click and drag them).When switching to the this mode, the current harmonization is used as starting point for editing, so you maywant to adapt the automatic harmonization settings as close as possible to your requirements before switchingto the edit mode.

5 User Interface 38

Figure 9: Highlighted Pitch View in Edit Mode

The edit mode is highlighted by an orange frame around the pitch view window, as depicted in Fig 9.

5 User Interface 39

5.8 Snapshots

Snapshots enable you to store and reload a complete harmonization status. You can store up to 32 independentsnapshots in one plugin instance that are displayed in the snapshot window. Each snapshot can have its owndistinct MIDI trigger note, allowing you to play different harmonizations or different play regions on differenttriggers (to set the trigger, use the Trigger Selection in the Host Synchronization bar).

That does also imply that the snapshot system is most powerful when used in MIDI trigger mode. In Time triggermode however, only the currently displayed snapshot is played.

Each snapshot contains the complete plugin status except the parameters in the Voice Settings that can becontrolled by the host via the preset management or parameter automation. This includes Trigger Selection,Start and End Marker Positions, Melody Properties and all Harmonization Settings.

5 User Interface 40

5.9 Voice Settings

The controls in the voice settings window are used to control the properties of each single voice (the colorsorange, red, blue, green represent the original input and the three synthesized voices ordered from lowest tohighest). Different settings can be stored in different presets. All parameters may also be controlled by thehost’s parameter automation.

To hide the Voice Settings window, click on the orange bar on the left.

Each fader control in the Voice Settings window shows a small popup menu when the mouse is over the control.This menu allows manual editing of the fader values.

5.9.1 Performance Parameters

Click on the voice colored bar labeled Performance to expand the performance parameters section.

Voice Time

The Time parameter allows you to humanize the timing of each voice. If set to 0, the timing is tight, if set to100, the timing is loose.

See also:

• Section 7.8: HowTo: Enhance the Naturalness

5 User Interface 41

Voice Glide

The Glide parameter allows you to smooth the transitions between succeeding pitches. If set to 0, there willbe abrupt changes between pitches, if set to 100, the transitions will be smooth. It is recommended to setthis to lower values for signals with sharper initial transients and to higher values for signals with slow initialtransients.

See also:


5.9.2 Fine-Tune Parameters

Click on the voice colored bar labeled Fine-Tuning to expand the tuning parameters section.

Voice Tune

Voice Tune allows you gradually to tune the mean fundamental frequency of each individual pitch towards thecorresponding equally tempered pitch. When at position 0%, the voice frequency remains unaltered, when atposition 100%, the frequency is quantized drastically.

See also:

• Section 7.6: HowTo: Edit the Tuning

Voice Drift

Voice Drift allows you gradually to modify the frequency drift from the mean fundamental frequency of eachpitch from minimum to factor 2. This allows to modify e.g. the frequency range of a vibrato. When at position100%, the voice frequency remains unaltered, when at position 0%, the frequency is quantized drastically, andwhen at position 200%, the drift from the mean frequency of the pitch will get two times larger than initially.

See also:

• Section 7.6: HowTo: Edit the Tuning• Section 7.8: HowTo: Enhance the Naturalness

5 User Interface 42

5.9.3 Voice Delay

Adjust a constant delay per voice relative to the original melody timing. The parameter value is in milliseconds.This parameter cannot be modulated while playing.

5.9.4 Voice Shape

Change the timbre of each voice to a darker or lighter shape. Negative values indicate dark timbre, and positivevalues indicate light timbre. The allowed range is rather large to allow experimental usages; usually you willwant to stay between ±3 for natural results.

See also:


5.9.5 Stereo Mix Controls

Move the small circle around the two-dimensional field to adjust the pan position (left/right) and the volume(up/down); alternatively, use the corresponding faders (top and right).

To reset the fader positions (volume and pan) to zero, use the small button labeled “R” below the volume fader.

When playing, the background shows a VU-Meter of each voice output, colored with the corresponding voice.

The volume and pan controls only have impact on the mixdown of the overall stereo output. Thesecontrols don’t affect the single voice output tracks.

6 vielklang outputs 43

6 vielklang outputs

6.1 Audio Out

6.1.1 Live Stereo Mix-Down

When playing, all voices are automatically rendered in real-time to the stereo output, which is activated bydefault. For the Mix-Down, Pan and Volume from the Voice Settings are used.

See also:

• Section 5.9: Voice Settings

6.1.2 Live Single-Voice Output

In addition to the default stereo mix output, you can select to send each voice to a single output channel pair.To enable the single voice outputs, you have to hit the Voice Output button in the Menu Bar.

See also:

• Section 5.2.7: Voice Output• Section 5.2: Menu Bar

6.1.3 Save Audio as File

The current harmonization state can be rendered to an audio file by clicking the Save button in the Menu Bar,choose Audio and follow the instructions.

See also:

• Section 5.2.2: Save

6.2 MIDI Out

In addition to the audio outputs, vielklang offers several possibilities for rendering MIDI-outputs. This datacan for example be used to trigger any virtual or real instrument.

6 vielklang outputs 44

6.2.1 Live Midi-Out

The complete harmonization is rendered live to vielklang’s MIDI output track (if connected in the host).

To allow easy separation of the 4 voices in the MIDI output, each voice has its own MIDI channel, resulting in 4output channels, numbered 1-4. These 4 channels are ordered as following:

1. orange (“original” voice)

2. red (lowest synthesized voice)

3. blue (middle synthesized voice)

4. green (highest synthesized voice)

Due to technical restrictions, live MIDI-Output is not supported in AudioUnits.

6.2.2 Drag’n’Drop Midi-Output

Each stored snapshot can be easily exported as Midi data by Shift+drag’n’drop the snapshot name to a Miditrack or any other target location. Note that the host has to support Midi drag’n’drop; if it is not supported, youmay use the Save button (see below).

If you do not want to drag the harmonization to the Midi track, but only the trigger note for that specific snapshot,use Ctrl+Shift+drag’n’drop.

6.2.3 Save Midi as File

The current harmonization state can be rendered to a Midi file by clicking the Save button in the Menu Bar,choose Midi and follow the instructions.

See also:

• Section 5.2.2: Save

7 vielklang HowTo 45

7 vielklang HowTo

7.1 HowTo: Load vielklang in your host application

7.1.1 ableton live

• loading vielklang

Go to the VST/AU plugin folder in the browser. Look up vielklang. Now, either drag’n’drop it on the miditrack of your preference, or just simply double-click it. The latter will open a new midi track for vielklangautomatically.

• setting up midi input

Midi input is set up automatically by dropping vielklang on a midi track or by double-clicking it.

• setting up stereo output

Stereo output is also set up automatically.

• setting up multichannel outputs

Add a new audio track. In Audio From select the vielklang midi track. Then in the the drop down menubelow you can choose which voice output channel you want to route to the audio track. Don’t forget toenable the multi channel output in vielklang (see Section 6) and set the Monitor of the channel to In.

• setting up midi outputs (VST only)

Add a new midi track. In MIDI From select the vielklang midi track. In the drop down menu belowchoose vielklang.

• annotations

Live doesn’t support drag’n’drop of audio to vielklang, so you have to use the Load button or usedrag’n’drop from the file explorer. Drag and drop of snapshots from vielklang to Live is supported (seeSection 6.2.2).

7.1.2 Apple Logic


Add a new instrument track. In I/O go to Stereo/AU Instruments/ or Multi-channel/AU Instruments/ andlook for vielklang and select it.



Midi input is automatically set up from the chosen instrument track to vielklang.


Stereo output is automatically set up to the output of the instrument track.


In order to use the multichannel output option of vielklang you have to load vielklang as a multi-channel instrument (see above). If you have been working with the stereo version so far, that is no problem.Simply choose the multi-channel version in the same track instead of the stereo version. All your data willbe preserved.

In Logic 7: For each single voice output channel add a stereo AUX channel. In I/O of each one of theseAUX channels select in the drop down menu below I/O the desired vielklang output. vielklang 3-4corresponds to the orange voice, vielklang 5-6 corresponds to the red voice, vielklang 7-8 corresponds tothe blue voice and vielklang 9-10 corresponds to the green voice. Don’t forget to enable the multi channeloutput in vielklang (see Section 6).

In Logic 8: Open the mixer and look for the standard stereo output of vielklang. Below the MUTE andSOLO buttons you will find a ”+” and a ”-” button. By hitting the ”+” button you can add the additionaloutputs of vielklang to your mixer. Don’t forget to enable the multi channel output in vielklang (seeSection 6).

• setting up midi outputs

Midi output is not supported by AudioUnits at the moment. The only way to get midi output is to use thesave as midi option (see Section 6.2.3) or use drag’n’drop of snapshots (see Section 6.2.2).

• annotations

When the transport is not playing, Logic doesn’t tell vielklang about the current transport position. Thisway the cursor in vielklang will not follow the cursor in Logic unless you let the transport play. Thereforeyou have to hit start, shortly followed by stop, before using the Set button in the time synchronizationsettings (see Section 5.3.1).


7.1.3 Cakewalk Sonar


Go to Insert/Soft Synths and select vielklang. If vielklang doesn’t show up after installation youmight have to rescan your VST-plug-ins. This is done in Tools/Cakewalk Plug-In Manager.


The vielklang instrument track has a midi sub-track that is automatically routed to vielklang. If youprefer to use another midi track then select the preferred track and choose vielklang in the output dropdown menu right below the volume fader on the left.


Stereo output is automatically set up when inserting a new vielklang soft synth.


When inserting a new vielklang soft synth select in the Insert Soft Synth Options All Synth AudioOutputs. Sonar opens up 5 audio tracks of which the first one represents the mix output, and next fourthe orange, red, green and blue single voice outputs. Don’t forget to enable the multi channel output invielklang (see Section 6).


In order to enable vielklang midi output you have to:

– check the Enable MIDI Output checkbox in the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog box when inserting asynth from the Insert menu or the Synth Rack

– right-click a synth name in the Synth Rack to enable or disable Enable MIDI Output from a popupmenu.

Then choose a midi track and set the input of that track to vielklang.

• annotations

Sonar supports drag’n’drop from Sonar to vielklang as well as snapshot drag’n’drop from vielklangto Sonar (see Section 6.2.2). If you experience trouble with entering names or numbers, click on thewindow menu button at the upper left corner of the plug-in window and select Disable Floating.


7.1.4 Digidesign Pro Tools


Add a new stereo instrument track. Click one of the insert selectors of that track and select multichannelplug-in/Instrument/vielklang.


The midi output of the instrument track is automatically routed to vielklang’s midi input.


vielklangs stereo mix output is automatically routed to the audio output of the instrument track.


For each desired single voice output add a new stereo AUX track. Switch to the Mix window. In each AUXtrack you can select the input which is usually set to no input by default. Click on the drop down menuand select the appropriate vielklang output voice (named orange, red, green or blue) in the submenuplug-in/vielklang.... Don’t forget to enable the multi channel output in vielklang (see Section 6).

• setting up midi outputs Add a new midi track, switch to the Mix window and select vielklang MIDI outas midi input for that track. In a submenu you may also choose if you want to route all channels or only asingle channel to the midi track (see Section 6.2.1).

• annotations

Pro Tools supports drag’n’drop from Pro Tools to vielklang as well as snapshot drag’n’drop fromvielklang to Pro Tools (see Section 6.2.2).

On the Mac when dragging a region (which must be consolidated first, see 3.4) either from thetimeline or from the region list to vielklang it must be dragged to the header of the vielklang

window, otherwise to the other part of the window (Pitch View).


7.1.5 Image-Line FLStudio


Go to Channels/Add one, look up vielklang and select it. If vielklang doesn’t show up in the menuselect More... and find it there.


Midi input is automatically set up from the channel to vielklang.


vielklangs stereo mix output is automatically routed to the master output. To change this, click onvielklang channel in the step sequencer, this will open the vielklang window and the channel settings.In the upper right corner of the channel settings - called FX - you can assign the stereo mix output to achannel of the mixer.


Open the plug-in menu by clicking on the upper left down arrow of the plug-in window. In the menu enablethe option Enable multiple outputs. The 4 additional outputs are now routed to the subsequent channelsin the mixer. Don’t forget to enable the multi channel output in vielklang (see Section 6).


Open the plug-in menu by clicking on the upper left down arrow of plug-in window. In the menu enable theShow MIDI output port. Then, you may assign a port in the upper right corner of the plug-in window. Usethis port as the input to the synthesizer you want to control.

• annotations

FL Studio supports drag’n’drop from the FL Studio browser to vielklang as well as snapshot drag’n’dropfrom vielklang to FL Studio (see Section 6.2.2).

7.1.6 Steinberg Cubase


Select Devices/VST Instruments, then choose vielklang in an empty VST instrument space.


If Cubase asks you on loading vielklang if it should add a midi track to the instrument and you confirm,


the new midi channel is connected to vielklang. Otherwise add a new midi track and set the output ofthat track to vielklang.


vielklang’s stereo mix output is automatically routed to the audio output of the instrument track.


If not already displayed, click on the output symbol to the left of vielklang in the VST Instruments dialog.Select the additional output channels. Don’t forget to enable the multi channel output in vielklang (seeSection 6).


Add a new midi track and set the input to vielklang.

• annotations

Cubase supports drag’n’drop from Cubase to vielklang as well as snapshot drag’n’drop fromvielklang to Cubase (see Section 6.2.2).

See also:

• Section 3.2: Loading vielklang

7.2 HowTo: Change the playback tempo

vielklang offers the option to synchronize the speed of harmonization playback (without changing pitch,naturally) to the host tempo, even to a time-varying host tempo. This can be enabled in the Host Synchronizationbar. The amount of tempo adaption is controlled by the difference of the host tempo in BPM and the tempogiven in the Melody Properties; if they are identical, vielklang uses the original tempo. If the host tempo isfor example 90BPM , and the sample tempo is 100BPM , the harmonization will be played back 10BPM slowerthan its original speed.

You are also able to adjust different tempi to different snapshots if you would like.

See also:

• Section 5.3.3: Tempo Synchronization• Section 5.6: Melody Properties


7.3 HowTo: Edit/Modify the Harmonization

There are several options to interact with the harmonization engine on different levels. We will concentrate onthe Intelligent Harmonization in this description.

7.3.1 Adjusting overall properties

You will find the following controls in the Harmonization Settings.

Pitch-Shift the whole Harmonization

Change the Root Note Dropdown menu to shift the whole harmonization up or down.

Change the Harmonization Scale

Use the Scale Dropdown menu to control what notes are used in the output scale. Even if the scale nameslook unfamiliar, you may just switch them and see what happens. The most common scale would be Majorand Minor (check whether aeolic or harmonic fits better).

Change the Voice Arrangement

Decide how many voices should be above or below the (orange) melody voice with the slider Voice Arrange-ment.

Change the Voice Range

The Voice Range is the average distance between the outer voices, which could also be called Spread orAmbitus. Use this slider to increase of decrease the average distance between the outer voices.

See also:

• Section 5.7 Harmonization Settings

7.3.2 Change Single Chords

If you want or need to change the harmony at a specific melody pitch, you can do so in the Pitch View’s HarmonyBar: simply click on the chord label you want to change, and select the appropriate chord. The first three optionsdisplayed are the triads that include the melody pitch, but you also have the option to choose seventh chords


or all possible chords in this scale. Note: the melody pitch is never modified, changes apply only to the threeadditional voices.

See also:

• Section 5.5.6: Harmony Bar• Section 11: Chord Labels

7.3.3 Split Notes

You might want a harmony progression consisting of two or more different chords for one melody note in specificcases. To achieve this, the melody note has to be “split” in two or several notes to be able to set different chordsfor different parts of this one note. To split notes use the Note Cut Mode.

See also:

• Section 5.2.4: Note Cut Mode

7.3.4 Mute Single Notes

At specific notes or complete parts of the harmonization, you may want to mute single notes without goingthrough the hassle of automating the volume fader through the host. You can do this simply via the contextmenu of each note: simply enable or disable muting of the selected note(s).

To mute all additional voices of one chord at once, use the context menu of the Harmony Bar.

See also:

• Section 5.5.4: Mute Notes• Section 5.5.6: Harmony Bar

7.3.5 Edit Single Pitches

Every single pitch, including the melody pitches, can be moved in the piano roll as required when you are inthe Edit Harmonization mode. The usual procedure will be that you tweak the harmonization with the above


mentioned options as far as possible to your requirements, and then switch to the Edit Harmonization mode toapply the last alterations by moving single pitches with your mouse.

See also:

• Section 5.7.3: Edit Harmonization

7.4 HowTo: Move or Mute several notes simultaneously

vielklang allows you to select several notes by using the key combination Shift+Click. These selected notescan then be muted with a right click, or - when in Edit Harmonization - shifted to other pitches simultaneously.

See also:

• Section 5.5.4: Mute Notes• Section 5.7.3: Edit Harmonization

7.5 HowTo: Use the Snapshot System

The snapshot system enables vielklang to act as a fully featured sample player: every snapshot containsthe complete state of the plugin with harmonization and trigger settings as well as tempo, harmonies and startand end markers. You may play each snapshot by hitting the assigned key on your MIDI keyboard.

7.5.1 Storing a state for later reference

If you want to store the current harmonization for later reference, e.g. to compare the initial with an editedversion, simply add a new snapshot for every stage of editing and compare them by clicking on the snapshotslater on. You may also adjust different MIDI triggers (see Trigger Selection) for each snapshot and listen to themdirectly by pressing the corresponding keys on your MIDI keyboard.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection


7.5.2 Playing different parts of the harmonization on different MIDI triggers

For each snapshot, you may set a different MIDI trigger note (see Trigger Selection, Sec. 5.3.1). If you intend toplay different sections of the harmonization on different MIDI triggers, you can adjust the start and end markers(see Sec. 5.3.2) for each snapshot you stored. Then, only the section between the markers is played whentriggered.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection• Section 5.5.5: Marker

7.5.3 Playing the same part with different harmonizations on different MIDI triggers

To be able to have different harmonizations for the same input (e.g. first and second chorus), store each modifiedharmonization as a snapshot and set different MIDI trigger notes for the snapshots (you can additionally use thestart and end markers to control the section that is played by the MIDI trigger). Then, the section between themarkers of the corresponding snapshot is played on the trigger.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection

7.5.4 Playing different snapshots with different tempo

For each snapshot, you may set different tempi in the Melody Properties. This results - if Tempo Synchronizationis enabled - in different playback speeds for each snapshot.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.3.3: Tempo Synchronization• Section 7.2: HowTo: Change the playback tempo


7.5.5 Use different scales/keys for different parts of you input data

The key of the input melody changes

If the key of the input melody changes over time, vielklang is currently not able to generate a continuousharmonization. But, it is possible to store a snapshot per homogeneous key region, set the start and endmarkers respectively and correct the scale in the Melody Properties, if necessary.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.5.5: Marker• Section 5.6: Melody Properties

The harmonization scale or root note should change between different regions

Store each part that should be harmonized in one scale in a snapshot and set the start and end marker asrequired. Then, change the output scale and/or its root note in the Harmonization Settings.

See also:

• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.5.5: Marker• Section 5.7: Harmonization Settings

7.6 HowTo: Edit the Tuning

7.6.1 Force a voice to the equally tempered scale

To “quantize” the pitches of one voice to the equally tempered scale, you may use the Voice Tune control in theVoice Settings. This will force all mean pitch frequencies towards the equally tempered mean pitch frequencyby the specified amount. This control only changes the mean frequency per note, the vibrato remains unaltered.If the melody line is already close to the tempered scale, the effect may only be subtle.

7.6.2 Change the amount of vibrato per voice

The Voice Drift control in the Voice Settings allows you to increase or decrease the drift or deviation from themean frequency per note. When setting this fader to 0%, there will be no vibrato left at all. The mean frequencyof each note will not be altered by this control.


7.6.3 Modify the tuning frequency of all voices

Sometimes the whole melody line may be somewhat too high or too low, which is recognizable with respect toaccompanying instruments. In that case, you may hear “beating” between the harmonization and the accompa-niment. To fix this, you may adjust the overall Tuning Freq of the harmonization by editing the tuning frequency.This change affects all voices.

Note that this control is not intended to pitch shift the harmonization for larger amounts, it’s only for fine tuning.If you want to shift your harmonization one or more semitones, please use the Root Note and Scale control.

See also:

• Section 5.9.2: Voice Drift• Section 5.9.2: Voice Tune• Section 5.4: Tuning Freq• Section 5.7.1: Root Note and Scale

7.7 HowTo: Trigger

One of the most powerful features of vielklang is the ability to trigger the Snapshots by MIDI notes. In MIDItrigger mode you can assign a MIDI trigger note to a snapshot before adding the snapshot. If you forgot toassign the appropriate MIDI trigger note to your snapshot, you can select the snapshot, choose the desiredMIDI trigger note and then hit ’Replace’.

In order to trigger a snapshot from your sequencer, you will have to create a MIDI track in your host and assignthe output of that track to vielklang. There are three ways to trigger a snapshot:

• use a keyboard and record the triggers in realtime

• draw the appropriate MIDI trigger notes in the MIDI track (keep in mind that the trigger playback will stopwhen the trigger note stops)

• hold Ctrl+Shift, click on the snapshot you want to trigger and drag it to the position in the MIDI trackwhere you want it to be the triggered (Note that this may not work in every host)


Don’t forget to switch to MIDI trigger mode (see 5.3.1), before starting playback.

See also:

• Section 5.3.1: Trigger Selection• Section 5.8: Snapshots• Section 5.5.5: Marker

7.8 HowTo: Enhance the Naturalness

Once you have found the harmonization that fits your requirements best, you may want to fine-tune some of theproperties to achieve the most natural sounding result possible.

To change the timbre of each voice (resp. to shift the formants), you can use the Voice Shape slider; usuallyyou will move the slider to the left for the deeper voices and to the right for the higher voices (but be careful: theavailable range is quite large to allow also experimental settings, usually you will want to stay in the range of ±3semitones.

If your input melody was performed expressively, it is likely to contain intended pitch deviations like vibrato.Since the additional voices are synthesized from the original melody, these deviations or drifts are synchronousfor all voices. This is in most cases not desirable, since it tends to sound artificial. The solution is to adjustthe Voice Drift of each voice to differentiate them from the original and the other voices. Also, adding a smallconstant Voice Delay can help to avoid synchronicity.

An even better way to avoid synchronicity is to optimize the setting of the Voice Time fader for each voice. Withthis slider, you can adjust the humanization of the timing of each voices. With increasing values, the timing willbecome looser.

Sometimes, especially at the beginning and end of a note or note transitions, respectively, artifacts may beaudible. The Voice Glide fader allows you to smooth out these transitions.

See also:

• Section 5.9.1: Voice Time• Section 5.9.1: Voice Glide• Section 5.9.4: Voice Shape• Section 5.9.2: Voice Drift• Section 5.9.3: Voice Delay

8 Troubleshooting 58

8 Troubleshooting

Please find the answers to some common problems below. If the problem persists, do not hesitate to contact usdirectly.

8.1 Plugin doesn’t show up in the host after installation

Note that vielklang is a virtual instrument, not a real-time effect, so you have to look under the instrumentsmenu of your host.

See also:

• Section 7.1: HowTo: Load vielklang in your host application

8.2 Unlocking

If you have trouble with unlocking vielklang, please make sure that the info you entered in the registrationdialogue is exactly the information you received from our web-shop, and note that all entries are case sensitive.

See also:

• Section 2: Buying and Unlocking vielklang

8.3 Saving/Rendering/Freezing does not work

Most likely, you are using the demo version, where this functionality is not supported.

8.4 The input melody is automatically modified

You can see when the original input melody is modified by the orange lines drawn by vielklang showing theoriginal pitches of the input melody.

vielklang does this automatically because the input pitch was not in the harmonization scale, and it hasassumed that for proper harmonization, it should be quantized to the scale. You have the option to switch thisautomatic behavior off by disabling the ”Snap-Melody-To-Scale” option. You can find the button, marked with

8 Troubleshooting 59

an ”S”, in the Harmonization Settings-window, right besides the Scale Selection. If this option is turned off, theinput melody pitches will remain unaltered.

See also:

• Section 5.7.1: Snap-Melody-to-Scale

8.5 Midi-Output does not work with the AudioUnit

Unfortunately, live MIDI output is not supported by the AudioUnit interface. But you can use the Drag’n’DropMidi output or save the harmonization via the save button.

See also:

• Section 6.2.2: Drag’n’Drop Midi-Output

9 Technology 60

9 Technology

9.1 Key Analysis

The key is automatically estimated from the input melody. It utilizes the number of pitches as well as theirrelative number of occurances to determine the correct key. The key detection uses a specially modified versionof zplane’s [tONaRT] key detection engine.

9.2 Voice Synthesis

The additional voices are synthesized by pitch-shifting the input audio. The formant-preserving pitch-shifting isdone by zplane’s elastique time-stretching and pitch-shifting engine.

9.3 Harmony Estimation

From the succession of the input melody pitches, theoretically possible harmonies for each note are calculated.Dependent on rules for harmony progression as well as on statistical models of chord occurrences, the optimalharmony progression for the input melody is estimated.

9.4 Voice Leading

Traditional Harmonizers usually let the synthesized voices run in parallel, i.e. with constant intervals to themelody voice. Sometimes, also constant diatonic intervals are used. While this might be a usable approach,it does not reflect the reality of how the voices would move in the real world, where the movement is mainlydetermined by the underlying harmony progression and by established voice leading rules. Implementing theserules combined with musical experience leads to voice leading, meaning that the voices not merely run in parallelmovements, but are somewhat more independent in their individual movement3.

The optimal voice progression is calculated with a rule-based fuzzy-logic model, with each rule weighting eachpossible combination of pitches with a probability according to the particular combination. The rule modelincludes traditional voice leading rules like avoidance of quint parallels as well as rules regarding what kind ofpitch succession is desirable.

9.5 Third Party Technology

zplane vielklang makes use of the following third party libraries:

3 Still, we are talking about homophonic voices instead of polyphonic counterpoint, so the voices will be roughly parallel.

9 Technology 61

• SndLib for sound file IO.

• fltk2 as graphical interface tool kit

• Inno Setup as Windows installer

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/snd/sndlib

http://www.fltk.org

http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

10 Feedback and Support 62

10 Feedback and Support

The vielklang website always provides the latest information and news about vielklang. You can also alwayspost in our forum to discuss your impressions, tips and tricks, questions, and feature requests with other usersand the zplane team.

Any issues you encounter may also be reported in the forum, or directly to us via post or email. Before contactingus directly, please ensure you are using the latest version of vielklang. Please also make sure that yourproblem is not covered in the manual, the forum, the faq or elsewhere on the vielklang website.

In your email or letter, please provide the following details to enable us to help you as fast as possible

• your registration information

• your system specifications (hardware, operating system, host software)

• the exact version number of vielklang (see the about dialogue by clicking on the vielklang logo (topright)).

• a detailed description of your problem, including a step-by-step description of how to reproduce the issue

Please use the following contact information:

[email protected]. 21d-10965 berlingermany


http://www.zplane.de/forum


mailto:[email protected]?subject=vielklang support request:

11 Glossary 63

11 Glossary

Chord

In the context of vielklang, a chord consists either of three pitches (triad) or of four pitches. The pitches arealways separated by (diatonic) thirds. Due to the integrated voice leading, a chord is not necessarily complete:pitch doubling or missing pitches can occur if preferred by the voice leading engine.

A chord inversion means that a pitch other than the chord’s root note is the lowest pitch.

Chord Labels

The following table explains all chord labels used by vielklang with respect to a root note of C.

ChordLabel

Description Chord

C Major Triad

G ��c minor triad

G �2��c dim diminished triad

G �2�2�

11 Glossary 64

C aug augmented triad

G ��4�C M7 Major seventh chord (four voiced)

G ��c m7 Minor seventh chord (four voiced)

G �2��2�C 7 Dominant seventh chord (four voiced)

G ��2�c m7b5 Half diminished seventh chord (four

voiced)

G �2�2�2�c dim7 Diminished seventh chord (four voiced)

G �2�2�3�

11 Glossary 65

c mM7 Minor chord with major seventh (fourvoiced)

G �2��– unknown chord

GTable 1: All Chord Labels displayed with respect to a root note ofC

Harmony

Here, a Harmony is basically the same as a Chord.

Interval

An interval describes the distance in pitches between two pitches. One can differentiate between chromaticintervals and diatonic intervals. The chromatic intervals as shown in Table 2 always define the exact distance insemitones, while diatonic intervals always refer to their scale.

Interval Distance in semitonesPrime 0Minor Second 1Major Second 2Minor Third 3Major Third 4Fourth 5Tritonus 6

11 Glossary 66

Fifth 7Minor Sixth 8Major Sixth 9Minor Seventh 10Major Seventh 11Table 2: Common Chromatic Intervals

In the case of diatonic intervals, there is no need to refer to intervals as major or minor, as the number ofsemitones is defined by the scale itself. Table 3 shows intervals from the pitch C for two scale, major and aeolicminor.

Interval Major: dis-tance insemitones

Pitches in Major Minor: dis-tance insemitones

Pitches in Minor

Prime 0

G 0

G Second 2

G 2

G Third 4

G 3

G 2

11 Glossary 67

Fourth 5

G 5

G Fifth 7

G 7

G Sixth 9

G 8

G 2Seventh 11

G 10

G 2Table 3: Diatonic Intervals from Pitch C in C Major and C (Aeolic)Minor

Key

The key of a musical piece is defined by the combination of a root note with a scale. It thus defines all possible or“allowed” pitches in this specific key. For example, the Major scale starting at pitch C leads to a key of CMajor(the corresponding scale is displayed in Figure 4).

Root

The Root or Root Note is the “most important pitch” of a musical piece. Together with the mode, it is used todefine a key.

11 Glossary 68

Scale

A simple and in the context of this software valid definition of the term “scale” is an ordered series of intervals.Together with a Root Note, the scale determines the key and thus the “valid” pitches in tonal context. zplanevielklang offers the following scales (in this example plotted over a Root Note C):

Major G

Dorian G 2 2

Phrygian G 2 2 2 2

Lydian G 4

Mixolydian G 2

11 Glossary 69

Aeolic Minor G 2 2 2

Lokrian G 2 2 2 2 2

Harmonic Minor G 2 2

Gipsy I G 2 4 2

Gipsy II G 2 4 2

Wholetone G 4 4 4

11 Glossary 70

The most popular scales are Major and (Aeolic or Harmonic) Minor. The usage of zplane vielklang does notrequire exact knowledge of the mentioned scales. You may just switch between different scales and listen to theresults.

Tremolo

Periodic loudness variation around the mean loudness of a tone. In most cases in-time with the vibrato.

Tuning Frequency

The frequency of pitch A4. In many cases, it is at 440Hz, but deviations from this tuning frequency are easilypossible.

Vibrato

Periodic frequency variation around the mean pitch frequency of a tone.

Index 71

IndexAbout Button, 26Aeolic Minor Scale, 69Ambitus, 51Audio Output, 43

Beat Button, 32Button

About, 26Beat, 32Cursor Follow, 26Freq, 32Key, 32Redo, 24Scale horizontally, 25Scale to Play Region, 25Scale vertically, 25Set, 28, 29Undo, 24View All, 25Voice Output, 26Zoom Control, 25

Buying, 10

Chord, 63Chord Labels, 63Contact, 62Cursor Follow, 26Cut Mode, 25

Delay, 42Dorian Scale, 68Drift, 41

Edit Harmonization Mode, 31, 36, 37

End Marker, 28, 33

Feedback, 62Fine-Tune Parameters, 41Freeze, 28Freq Button, 32

Gipsy I Scale, 69Gipsy II Scale, 69Glide, 41

Harmonic Minor Scale, 69Harmonization, 18Harmonization Mode

Edit, 31, 36, 37Intelligent, 31, 36Parallel, 31, 36, 37

Harmony, 34, 65Harmony Bar, 34, 51Harmony Estimation, 60Host Synchronization, 27

MIDI, 39Time, 39

HowTo..., 45

Installation, 12, 13Intelligent Harmonization Mode, 31, 36Interval, 37, 65

Key, 67Key Button, 32

Lokrian Scale, 69Lydian Scale, 68

Index 72

Major Scale, 68Marker, 28, 33

Start and End, 28, 33Melody Properties, 35Menu Bar, 24MIDI Output, 43MIDI Trigger, 19, 27, 28Minor Scale

Aeolic, 69Harmonic, 69

Mix Controls, 42Mixolydian Scale, 68Mute Notes, 33Mute Single Notes, 52

NoteMuting, 33

Note Cut Mode, 25

OffsetHost <> Plug, 19, 27, 29

OutputAudio, 43MIDI, 43

Outputs, 43

Pan, 42Parallel Harmonization Mode, 31, 36, 37Parameters, 18Performance Parameters, 40Phrygian Scale, 68Pitch View, 31, 32, 38

Cursor Follow, 26Zoom Controls, 25

Play Region, 33

Preset, 18Prime, 31

Redo, 24Registration Dialogue, 10Render, 28Root Note, 35, 36, 51, 67

Save, 24Scale, 31, 32, 35, 36, 51, 68

Aeolic Minor, 69Dorian, 68Gipsy I, 69Gipsy II, 69Harmonic Minor, 69Lokrian, 69Lydian, 68Major, 68Mixolydian, 68Phrygian, 68Wholetone, 69

Set button, 27–29Shape, 42Snap-to-Scale, 36Snapshot, 18, 27, 28, 31, 34–36, 39, 53–55Split Notes, 52Spread, 51Start Marker, 28, 33Style, 36Support, 62Synchronization

Host, 27MIDI, 28Tempo, 29Time, 27

Index 73

Trigger, 27System Requirements, 12

Tempo, 50Tempo Synchronization, 19, 29Time, 40Time Stretching, 29Time Trigger, 19, 27Tremolo, 70Trigger

MIDI, 19, 27, 28Time, 19, 27

Trigger Selection, 27Troubleshooting, 58Tune, 41Tuning Frequency, 30, 35, 56, 70

Undo, 24Unlocking, 11

Vibrato, 70Voice

Delay, 42Drift, 41Glide, 41Mix Controls, 42Pan, 42Shape, 42Timing, 40Tune, 41Volume, 42

Voice Arrangement, 37Voice Leading, 34, 36, 60Voice Output Button, 26Voice Range, 37, 51

Voice Settings, 40Volume, 42

Wholetone Scale, 69

Zoom Control Buttons, 25

Documents

vI.I Reference Manual · Contents 1 Introduction 7 1.1 What’s new in version 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2 Buying and Unlocking