Summary of the content on the page No. 1
20 November 2005
UniQuest for EWI
4000s
Quick Start
Thank you and congratulations on your choice of the Akai Professional EWI
4000s Electric Wind Instrument. While the EWI 4000s is equipped with a
sophisticated on-board Analog Modeling Synthesizer, UniQuest expands on
this feature by giving you remote access to all sound parameters from a
connected Mac or PC computer. In addition to complete real-time editor
functions, UniQuest for EWI 4000s also serves as a back-up and
organizational too
Summary of the content on the page No. 2
Getting Ready: Instructions Your computer requires one free MIDI In port and one free MIDI Out port to run UniQuest. Please ensure that your MIDI interface is installed correctly and that all filtering options (especially ones that affect System Exclusive) are disa- bled. Make sure your hardware instrument is properly connected to your computer. Two- way (duplex) MIDI communication is essential to the UniQuest software's installa- tion & operation. You will need to connect two MIDI cables bet
Summary of the content on the page No. 3
Getting Ready: Instructions You may have noticed that some of UniQuest for EWI 4000s’ dialogs, menu bars and icons have the words ‘Midi Quest’ in them. This is to be expected, since UniQuest for EWI 4000s is built on technology developed by Sound Quest Music Software (www.squest.com). This instrument will also available as an included instrument module for users of Sound Quest’s Midi Quest & Midi Quest XL prod- ucts in the near future. You should now see the following choices in the Midi In
Summary of the content on the page No. 4
Getting Ready: Instructions UniQuest will now open. On Windows XP you will see an Application window that contains the Studio Window: On Mac OS X you will see the Application menu and the Studio Window: The studio window contains the EWI 4000s instrument module: This is the main interface used to transfer sound data between your EWI 4000s and the software. The Instrument Module (Windows XP) 4 of 44 UniQuest for EWI 4000s
Summary of the content on the page No. 5
Getting Ready: Instructions The Instrument Module (Mac OS X) We’ll now explore the main controls of the instrument module. • The Instrument Graphic: More than just a pretty picture, this graphic of the EWI 4000s can be single-clicked to give the instrument module focus, and can be double-clicked to upload (or get) the currently selected data from the instru- ment. The Set List: This control allows you to choose the EWI 4000s data component you wish to work with, such as Preset, Preset Bank
Summary of the content on the page No. 6
Getting Ready: Instructions The AutoSense dialog is shown here: If the AutoSense procedure cannot detect your instrument’s settings, you will need to make sure your Midi Interface drivers are installed correctly and that all cables are connected as per the diagram in Step 2. Make sure the output of your computer is connected to the input of the EWI 4000s (and vice-versa). Also ensure that no SysEx filtering is enabled on your MIDI interface. Although UniQuest will now have detected the corr
Summary of the content on the page No. 7
Getting Ready: Instructions This will open the default Settings Dialog for the EWI 4000s instrument module : The Port and SysX (Comm) Channel settings will already have been set in this dia- log by the AutoSense procedure. This means that the Port In and Port Out settings controls will be set to the same MIDI ports that AutoSense discovered your EWI 4000s connected to. Likewise, the Comm Ch will be set to the SysEx communica- tion channel that your EWI 4000s used to respond to the AutoSense me
Summary of the content on the page No. 8
Getting Ready: Instructions Now you will find out if UniQuest is correctly configured by uploading (or getting) the Internal Preset Bank from your EWI 4000s. This test is also an essential opera- tion since you’ll need to protect these sounds from accidents while you learn to use your new editor software. 1. Select ‘Preset Bank’ with the Set List control... 2. Click on the ‘Get’ mini-button... 8 of 44 UniQuest for EWI 4000s
Summary of the content on the page No. 9
Getting Ready: Instructions 3. The Preset Bank uploads from your EWI 4000s in about 12 seconds. 4. The Uploaded Data Opens As A Bank Editor Window (Windows XP) Congratulations! You have just successfully installed UniQuest EWI 4000s and configured the software to work with your EWI 4000s. Please save the set you have just uploaded by selecting File : Save EWI 4000s Pre- set Bank from the UniQuest application menu. UniQuest will save this data as a file on your computer’s hard drive, and you
Summary of the content on the page No. 10
Getting Ready: Instructions 1.1 Exploring the Bank Editor Window You can now explore each of the sounds you have uploaded by clicking on an entry in the bank window. When you do this, the sound data will be downloaded through MIDI to the EWI 4000s temporary editing buffer, allowing you to audition the cur- rent selection. This will not overwrite any of the EWI 4000s presets, so it is com- pletely safe to do. More interestingly, you can also split the Bank Editor window to see the current pres
Summary of the content on the page No. 11
Getting Ready: Instructions Selecting a preset by clicking on it loads the Editor into the right side of the split: You are free to experiment as much as you like - Just remember to save the changed bank file under a new name. Otherwise, you will overwrite the backup you just made! In the next section we will explain how UniQuest works in greater detail, and will also explore the Preset Editor’s Virtual Instrument Interface. UniQuest for EWI 4000s 11 of 44
Summary of the content on the page No. 12
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s 2.0 A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s Getting the most from UniQuest requires a few adjustments in how you relate to your hardware instrument. In the past you have no doubt worked entirely "in-place" within the confines of your instrument's internal memory, which means perma- nently overwriting an existing sound before being allowed to listen to another. In typical hardware instruments, the presets are organized into banks which are stored in ‘perma
Summary of the content on the page No. 13
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s With UniQuest, you upload your EWI4000s preset bank to your computer, where it can be safely backed up to your hard drive. Then you are free to edit, audition, step between sounds, reorganize your banks and create searchable sound libraries with complete security and ease. You are never forced to erase useful sounds to make room for new ones with UniQuest. Once you have ‘Gotten’ the Preset Bank from your EWI 4000s, you can save it to your computer’s h
Summary of the content on the page No. 14
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s 2.1 Working with Single Presets If you only want to edit a single preset, UniQuest for EWI4000s has two compo- nents designed for this task: Preset and Preset Edit Buffer: When either of these components are selected within the Instrument Module’s Set- List, UniQuest will Get, New, Open or Put a single Preset depending on which mini-button you press. In the case of the Preset component, the choice of preset number within the EWI 4000s internal bank is se
Summary of the content on the page No. 15
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s 2.2.1 Preset Editor Overview There are 9 sections that make up the EWI 4000s Preset Editor : In the illustration above, the sections have been separated from their normal layout and are shown according to their location in the EWI 4000s synthesizer architec- ture. The black arrows indicate the flow of audio signals within the EWI 4000s. We will now explore each of these sections in greater detail. 2.2.2 LCD Display The LCD display section shows the current
Summary of the content on the page No. 16
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s 2.2.3 OSC 1 & 2 SECTION The EWI4000s has two analog modeled oscillators, which are editable independent of each other. Each oscillator outputs Sawtooth, Triangle and Pulse waves and includes a waveform mixer that lets you set how much of each wave is heard. Oscillator 1 & Oscillator 2 are connected as follows: As you can see there are many different textures that you can generate simply by adjusting the various level controls. What is not shown in this d
Summary of the content on the page No. 17
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s The following parameters are common to each oscillator: Oscillator Tuning Parameters OCTAVE Range is -2 to +2 octaves. SEMITONE Range is -12 to +12 semitones. FINE Range is -50 to +50 cents. 100 cents = 1 semitone, so this parameter lets you detune the oscillator by as much as a quarter-tone either way. Great for thicken- ing and doubling the sound. BEAT Range is 0 to 100%. This is a musical fine detune control. When the two oscilla- tors are detu
Summary of the content on the page No. 18
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s Oscillator Pitch & Volume Envelope Parameters SWEEP TIME Range is 0 to 100%. Unlike a keyboard controlled synthesizer, the EWI 4000s does not use a standard envelope generator (ADSR) to control the Oscillator Pitch. Instead, your breath pressure can act as a real-time trigger of a Sweep whose time to complete is set by this control: SWEEP DEPTH Range is -50% to +50%. Unlike a keyboard controlled synthesizer, the EWI 4000s does not use a standard env
Summary of the content on the page No. 19
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s BREATH THRESH Range is 0 to 100%. This is the threshold level above which the Oscillator will begin sounding. BREATH CURVE Range is -50% to +50%. This parameter sets the mapping of breath pressure to output volume for this oscillator. 0% means a linear 1:1 mapping as follows: Oscillator Master Volume Parameters LEVEL Range is 0% to 100%. This parameter sets the master volume of the Oscillator it belongs to. Oscillator X-FADE Parameter X-FADE Rang
Summary of the content on the page No. 20
A Quick Tour of UniQuest For EWI 4000s 2.2.4 OSC FILTER SECTION SELECT Choices are 1, 2 or LINK. When 1 is selected, the block of controls in this section govern the settings of OSC FILTER 1. When 2 is selected, these controls govern the settings of OSC FILTER 2. LINK mode is now explained. The Oscillator Filter section consists of 2 multi-mode filters that are connected in serial with each other. Each filter can be set individually or can be linked to realize a double-strength filter whos
