Apple MainStage 3 Instruments - MainStage 3 Instruments

Other Sculpture processing parameters
From the pickups, the signal is sent to the processing section, which consists of the ADSRequipped
amplitude stage (just to the right of the circular Material Pad in the center), a
Waveshaper with selectable types of waveshaping curves (above the circular Material Pad),
and a multimode filter (below the Material Pad). All elements covered thus far exist on a
per-voice basis.
All voice signals coming from the pickups are summed, and then they are processed by an
integrated Delay effect (to the upper right of the circular Material Pad).
From there, the signal is sent to an EQ-like module (Body EQ, to the lower right of the Material
Pad), which globally simulates the spectral shape or body response of your instrument. There are
several body types to choose from.
The resulting signal is then fed to a Level/Limiter section (at the far right).
Tip: Feel free to experiment with all these parameters—using the #default (or your vanilla)
setting file each time. This will give you a general feel for each parameter and its impact on the
sounds you hear.
All other parameters on the lower portions of the Sculpture interface (Modulation, Morph,
Envelope, and Controller Assignments) are not part of the core synthesis engine, although they
can affect it.
Explore Sculpture modulation options
The modulation options can be very important for the emulation of acoustic instruments, such
as with the introduction of vibrato into a trumpet sound over time.
Many classic synthesizer sounds also rely as much on modulation as they do on the basic sound
source components—the VCO, VCF, and VCA.
Here are some quick modulation tips:
••
Imagine that you want to modulate the timbre of Object 2 with the LFO, for example. To do
so, click the LFO 1 or 2 tab, click the 1 or 2 button, choose a source and target from the Source
and Target pop-up menus, then drag the “amt” and “via” sliders to the values you want.
••
To control any modulation with an external controller, such as your keyboard’s modulation
wheel, open the “via” pop-up menu and choose Ctrl A (1 ModWhl) or Ctrl B (4 Foot)
respectively. By default, the Mod Wheel is set to Ctrl A.
••
The Bouncing damp type available to Object 3 affects the sound in an interesting way, but it
cannot run synchronously with the project tempo. To create a similar effect to the Bouncing
Object—but in sync with the project tempo—you could use a Disturb object type, and move
it by modulating its vertical position (Timbre) with an LFO that is synchronized with the
host application.
Breath control is available when you use Sculpture, even if you don’t own a breath controller.
Use breath control without a breath controller
1 Record breath controller modulations into the recordable envelopes by using your keyboard
modulation wheel or another controller.
2 Reassign the recorded modulation routing to either, or both, the CtrlEnv 1 and
CtrlEnv 2 parameters.
3 Choose NoteOn from the Record Trigger pop-up menu.
Incoming note-on messages will trigger the CtrlEnv 1 and 2 parameters.
Chapter 13 Sculpture 294