what is the ds 404:

We've done it again! Stand up and greet DS-404, our brand new shiny VST 2.0 sampler unit. Oh yes: this is the first fully functioning freebie sampler out there, and one quick look at the specs will tell you that we haven't scrimped or saved on this baby. DS-404 supports stereo or mono 16-bit/44.1khz samples, and these can be arranged across the keyboard using the keymapper. You can arrange your samples into key and velocity zones, you can directly edit the loop points using the built-in wave editor, set the root note, loop mode, tuning and much, much more - and that's before you throw your patch through the wondrous synthesis options...

You have a multimode filter with ten different types: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band reject (all with 12dB and 24dB roll-off slopes), plus a low-pass/band reject and a peak filter! There's an ADSR envelope generator for the filter and the amplifier, a fully-fledged LFO and a host of routable modulation possibilities.

What's more, DS-404 can load up to 16 patches into one 'Multi', which can be mixed and routed to any of its four outputs from its own built-in mixer and accessed through MIDI channels 1-16. We've even spent a couple of weeks over a hot VST 2.0 host building sounds for you to use in your music making - a whopping 640Mb of patches and multisamples can be found on the DS-404 CD alongside all the samples from this tutorial. These .404 files are all saved as patches, so you can use them to build your own Multis for use in your songs.

To install the plug-in, simply copy the DS-404 .dll file into your VST plugins folder and fire up your VST host application. If you can't see the .dll file, make sure hidden files are not filtered in your Windows Explorer settings. Mac users, of course, won't have to worry about this. If you're a Sonar user, you'll have to run the .dll through a wrapper - in our case we are using DirectiXer because it supports multiple outputs to the Sonar 2 mixer. Got all that? Right, let's begin...

1. After you've copied the DS404.dll file into your VST plugins directory, open DS-404 in your host. Here, we've opened it up in Sonar 2 via the DirectiXer VST wrapper.

2. We want to load a patch into the DS-404 sampler. We can load up to 16 patches into one Multi if we should so desire. For now, though, let's keep things simple. Click on the L button next to the word 'Patch' in the upper middle display.

3. Inside the DS-404 Tutorials folder on the CD, you'll find another folder called Patches & Multis. Select the patch called CS40 and click on OK. This will load the patch into part/channel 1 of the current Multi.

4. Play some keys. You'll hear a resonant analogue synth that we've mapped across the keyboard. We'll show you how this is done a little further on. For now, we'll explain some of DS-404's synthesis functions. Click on the LP24 in the filter section

5. OK, let's have a play with DS-404's sweet, sweet filters. There are plenty of 'em - LP24 is a low-pass filter with a 24dB roll-off slope. Adjust the Cutoff knob to a value of around 67 percent. This will begin to cut the high frequency content.

6. Adjust the Resonance knob to around 30 percent. Have a play with the patch and listen to how we've modified the sound with careful filter tweaks. The lower notes sound very nice indeed, but the upper notes are a bit piercing...

7. Adjust the Keymod knob to around -34 percent. This will vary the degree of resonance across the keyboard and sweeten up that high end. DS-404 has an enormously versatile filter section, and you can achieve a wide variety of sounds by messing about with the available parameters

8. Our sound needs some volume shaping, so we want to make some adjustments to the amplitude envelope (EG1). Here, we have brought the Decay and Sustain portions down by a considerable amount, and upped the Release to give the sound some sustain when the note is released

9. To cause the amplitude to vary according to velocity, the mod wheel or aftertouch, set the DMOD to the desired source by clicking in the box. Here, we've set it to respond to velocity. This helps to give our patch some depth by varying the volume depending on how hard we hit the key.

10. Use the depth knob to set the amount you wish to apply to the sound's volume. We've selected around 85 percent and achieved a nice result with our MIDI keyboard. You can use this to fine tune the patch to your keyboard's velocity response and your playing style.

11. We would also like the filter cutoff to increase at higher velocities. There are two EGMOD knobs under the main filter controls; the first applies to the cutoff, the second to the resonance. Adjust the EGMOD knob on the left in the filter section to about 38 percent.

12. Set the filter envelope (EG2) faders to match those shown above and set the DMOD to Vel. Adjust the Depth knob to around 80 percent. The filter envelope modulates the filter effect over time. In this case, the filter will open slowly when the key is played...

13. Let's have some fun with the LFO. The DS-404's LFO will synchronise to the project tempo. Select the sine waveshape and turn the Rate knob up to around 9Hz. At the moment, you won't hear any difference to the sound - that is until we send a source to the LFO

14. Adjust the left LFOMOD in the filter section to around 50 percent. The LFO begins to modulate the filter and you should now hear a pulsating sound when you hit the keys. You can leave it like this, or we can provide some real-time hardware control...

15. In the LFO section, set the DMOD to MWH and the Depth to 100 percent. Now you will hear the LFO when you play with the modulation wheel on your keyboard controller - great for some dramatic modulating madness!

16. Now would probably be a good time to save our sound. In the Load/Save window, there's now a yellow E next to the Patch Save icon. This indicates that the sound has been edited. Click on the E and set the Memory Protect to On. Save your sound by clicking the Save icon. We've included our sound - called CS40Edit - in the Patches & Multis folder

17. DS-404 responds to 16 MIDI channels. These channels can be individually mixed together in the built-in mixer. Have a look in the top left of the big window and you'll notice F1, F2, F3 and F4. These relate to the function keys to the right (not on your keyboard!). Selecting F4 from the main window will open the mixer.

18. From the mixer window, it's possible to adjust the level and pan for each channel. You can also select the different output by clicking on the yellow squares next to the faders. Multis can be loaded and saved in the same manner as presets.

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