KiMiASound Design
Level 1 · Foundations›Module 2 · Meet KiMiA
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Module 2 · Lesson 2 of 6

Patch 1, Patch 2 and four layers

A KiMiA sound is two patches that can play at once, each with up to four layers, and every layer is a full synthesizer with one of eight engines. Once you see that structure, every screen makes sense.

15 minHeadphones or studio monitorsKiMiA and your keyboard
In this lesson you will
  • Understand how a KiMiA sound is built
  • Split and layer with key and velocity ranges
  • Know the eight engines

01Two patches, four layers each

KiMiA always has two patches ready: Patch 1 and Patch 2. Each holds one sound from the library, and both can play at the same time, for a split, a layer, or two sounds you switch between in a song. Each patch is made of up to four layers, A to D.

Figure 2.2.1

How KiMiA is built

Patch 1Layer Aengine, filters…Layer BLayer CLayer DShared effectsShimmer · Delay · ReverbPatch 2Layer Aengine, filters…Layer BLayer CLayer DShared effectsShimmer · Delay · ReverbOutputMaster · EQ
Two patches play at once, each with up to four layers. Every layer is a complete synthesizer with its own engine, filters, envelopes, modulators, Character and two insert effects. Each patch adds its shared effects (Shimmer, Delay and Reverb); the two patches meet in the output, with Master and the house EQ for the room.

At the top of every screen, each patch shows its sound, its On switch, Level and Pan. Click a patch to put it in focus: it lights up, the library loads into it, and Edit changes it.

Figure 2.2.2

A patch

Patch 1 with 22 · Piano + Pad: its number, its category and bank, its name, the On switch, Level and Pan
  1. The number click the patch to put it in focus
  2. Category and bank where the sound comes from
  3. On the patch plays or rests
  4. Level a trim on the sound’s own level
  5. Pan the whole patch, after its effects
Patch 1 in focus. Patch 2 sits beside it with the same controls, its own sound and its own color.

Under the patches, the layer strips A to D show the layers of the patch in focus. Click a strip to put that layer in focus for Edit and Matrix.

Figure 2.2.3

Layer strips A and B

Layer strips A (Piano, on, in focus) and B (Subtractive, on) of 22 · Piano + Pad
  1. The layer click to edit it
  2. S solo: hear this layer alone
  3. ••• copy and paste the whole layer
  4. On the layer plays or not
  5. Key range the keys it answers
  6. Voice mode Poly, Mono or Legato
  7. Level and Pan the layer in the patch’s mix
  8. The engine Piano on A, Subtractive on B
22 · Piano + Pad: the sampled piano on layer A, a pad on layer B. Layers C and D, to their right, are off.
In KiMiA

The course says “Patch 1 and Patch 2” for the two patches and “layers A to D” for their parts, as KiMiA does. Every course patch uses layer A, sometimes A and B, so what you hear is always what the lesson describes. The ` key (or o) moves the focus from one patch to the other.

02Layering: two sounds on every key

Switch on two layers and both play on every key: a pad under a bell, strings under a piano, a sub bass under a synth bass. Each layer keeps its own settings, so each can be shaped, panned and balanced on its own.

Switch while it plays: same moment, different sound Audio example — listen in the online course

The layer strips make this quick: power switches a layer on or off, and solo lets you hear one layer alone while you shape it.

03Splits and velocity ranges

A layer doesn’t have to play every key. In Edit, the Layer range panel gives each layer a Key range and a Velocity range, and a keyboard drawing across the top of the panel shows all four layers’ keys at a glance.

Figure 2.2.4

Edit › Layer range

The Layer range panel of 02 · Split Bass and Pad: a keyboard with layer A’s range on the left and layer B’s on the right, Octave, Fine tune, Key range and Velocity range
02 · Split Bass and Pad: layer A (blue) plays up to B2, layer B (yellow) from C3 up. Each row’s Patch | Layer pair says whether the setting is shared by the patch’s layers or this layer’s own.
Figure 2.2.5

A split: two layers side by side on the keyboard

Layer A · bassLayer B · pad
B2C3Layer A: Key range to B2Layer B: from C3
Audio example — listen in the online course
Each layer’s Key range sets the keys it answers. Here layer A ends at B2 and layer B starts at C3 (middle C is C4), so the left hand plays a bass and the right hand chords, from one patch.
In KiMiA

Each row of the Layer range panel has a Patch | Layer pair on its left. Patch keeps the four layers alike, so an edit on one sets all four; Layer gives this layer its own. A split needs Layer on the Key range row. The course patches with a split or a velocity switch open that way already.

The Velocity range does the same for how hard you play. Give layer A velocities 1 to 95 and layer B 96 to 127, and digging in switches to a different sound:

Switch while it plays: same moment, different sound Audio example — listen in the online course
Pro tip

The Layer range panel also holds each layer’s Octave and Fine tune. An octave-up layer is the quickest way to add sparkle, and a few cents of Fine tune between two layers thickens them like Detune does between two oscillators (Module 3).

04Eight engines

Every layer has an Engine, chosen at the top of its first Edit panel. It decides how the layer makes its sound:

EngineHow it makes soundModule
SubtractiveTwo classic oscillators, a Sub and noise, then filters: the heart of this course3 to 14
WavetableTwo morphing tables of waves15
FMFour operators modulating each other16
PhysicalModels of struck, plucked and bowed instruments17
Drum kitDrums and percussion on their General MIDI keys18
PianoA sampled grand, every note as recorded, downloaded from inside KiMiA18
OrganA tonewheel organ: nine drawbars, percussion, key click and the scanner18
GrainClouds of tiny slices of a sound: a table, a built-in sample, your own recording or the Looper’s19

Edit shows only the panels the layer’s engine uses, so each engine has its own face. Here is the first panel of each, with a course sound loaded:

Figure 2.2.6

Subtractive: two oscillators, the Sub and noise, then the filters

The first Edit panel of the Subtractive engine with 05 · Sweep Pad loaded
05 · Sweep Pad: two saws, each oscillator choosing its wave on its own row, then the Sub, the noise and the voices; Filter 1 beside them.
Figure 2.2.7

Wavetable: two tables of waves, each with its Position and warp

The first Edit panel of the Wavetable engine with 15 · Table Sweep Pad loaded
15 · Table Sweep Pad: each oscillator picks a table and reads one wave of it at its Position; Warp bends that wave. A modulator moves Position here, so the pad slowly changes.
Figure 2.2.8

FM: four operators and the algorithm that connects them

The first Edit panel of the FM engine with 16 · Tine EP loaded
16 · Tine EP on algorithm 5, EP Twin: All 16 algorithms opens the other fifteen; the sliders for the whole sound follow; then four operators, each with its wave, ratio and level or index, velocity and feedback, and its own envelope.
Figure 2.2.9

Physical: a model: what is struck, plucked or bowed, and how

The first Edit panel of the Physical engine with 17 · Solo Cello loaded
17 · Solo Cello: twenty instruments to model, from the Tine EP to the Timpani; under them, the controls of the chosen one: here the bow’s Pressure, Bow point, Swell, Vibrato and the cello’s Body.
Figure 2.2.10

Drum kit: a kit, each drum on its own key

The first Edit panel of the Drum kit engine with 18 · Analog Kit loaded
18 · Analog Kit: twelve drums and thirteen percussion instruments on their General MIDI keys, each with its own Tune, Decay, Tone and Level; Kit switches between the Analog and the Acoustic kit.
Figure 2.2.11

Piano: the sampled grand and its voicing

The first Edit panel of the Piano engine with 18 · Grand Piano loaded
18 · Grand Piano: the sampled grand, every note as recorded, full length. The Voicing (here Accurate), then Hardness, Dynamics, Release noise, Pedal noise, Resonance, Width and Perspective, from the player’s seat or the audience’s. With no filters, the Layer range sits beside it.
Figure 2.2.12

Organ: nine drawbars, percussion, click and the scanner

The first Edit panel of the Organ engine with 18 · Gospel Organ loaded
18 · Gospel Organ: nine drawbars from 16′ to 1′, then Percussion, Vibrato and chorus, and the organ’s own Leslie, with Key click, Leakage, Leslie drive, Horn and drum, Distance, Leslie mix and its two speeds.
Figure 2.2.13

Grain: grains of a source, in four modes

The first Edit panel of the Grain engine with 19 · Grain Cloud loaded
19 · Grain Cloud: the Mode row (Cloud, Scan, Freeze, Pulse), the two sources (here the built-in Choir), then the grains themselves in groups: Cloud (Position, Spray, Size, Density), Pitch and Sound. Filter 1 sits beside it, as on Subtractive.

The four layers of a patch can each use a different engine: a Piano on layer A and a Subtractive pad on layer B is one of the most useful patches you can build, and 22 · Piano + Pad in Module 22 is exactly that.

05Try it

  1. Two patches. Load a sound into Patch 1, click Patch 2 and load another. Switch both on, play, and balance them with their Level sliders.
  2. Solo a layer. Load 02 · Bell Pad Layers. Solo layer A, then layer B, then neither.
  3. Move the split. Load 02 · Split Bass and Pad. In Edit, open the Layer range panel for layer A and move its Key range’s top end; do the same for layer B’s bottom end.
  4. Dig in. Load 02 · Soft Pad, Hard Brass and play chords softly, then hard. Move the point where the brass takes over.
Your notes · a split or layer you would use in your set

06Check yourself

Q1How many layers can one patch have?
Each patch has layers A to D, and KiMiA has two patches, Patch 1 and Patch 2, that can play at once.
Q2You want a bass in the left hand and chords in the right, from one patch. What do you set?
The Key range decides which keys a layer answers; two layers side by side make a split.
Q3What does putting a patch in focus do?
Both patches keep playing; the focus only decides which one the library and Edit work on.
Q4Can layer A be a Piano and layer B a Subtractive pad?
The engine is chosen per layer, so one patch can mix them.