Finding your way in Edit

01One page for the layer in focus

Edit shapes one layer at a time: the title reads, for example, “02 · Course Init · layer A · sound design”. Choose the layer with its strip at the top. Everything for that layer sits on one page you scroll, in the order the sound travels.

Edit shows only the panels the layer’s engine uses: a Piano layer has no filters to show, a Drum kit no envelopes. Here is the whole page for one sound, top to bottom:

Figure 2.4.1

The whole Edit page, top to bottom

02The live displays

At the top of Edit, the Live output strip shows the sound as you shape it. It is how this course teaches you to see what you hear:

Figure 2.4.2

The live displays

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1. Displays the strip on or off
2. What it shows Layer, Patch, Flow or Output
3. The wave steady, at the newest note’s pitch
4. The spectrum every frequency, low to high
5. The third display Stereo, Harmonics or Waterfall
6. Stereo how wide the sound is
7. The meters peaks and loudness (LUFS)
8. Lock at top stays in view as you scroll

• What it shows: the layer in focus on its own (after its inserts and Level), the patch in focus (after its effects and mix), Flow (the same patch, its wave flowing over the last ten seconds) or the whole Output.
• The wave, steady on the screen at the pitch of the newest note, and the spectrum: how strong each frequency is, low at the left, high at the right.
• The third display: Stereo (how wide the sound is), Harmonics (each harmonic of the newest note as a bar) or Waterfall (the spectrum over time).
• The meters: the left and right peaks and the loudness in LUFS, the level your ear hears.

Lock at top keeps the strip in view while the panels scroll under it, so you can watch the wave as you move any control; Displays at the top right switches the strip off when you want the room.

03The sound path: a map you can click

Right under the displays, the sound path shows every stage the layer’s sound passes through, from the source to the EQ, each lit while it shapes the sound. Click a stage to jump to its panel. Each modulator and envelope in use appears as a box with an arrow to what it moves; click one to open it.

Figure 2.4.3

The sound path

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1. Source two saws
2. Drive dimmed: off
3. Filter a low-pass at 3 kHz
4. Amp Touch 100%: velocity sets the level
5. Inserts none chosen
6. Reverb a plate, 20% mix
7. Delay and Shimmer the other shared effects, off
8. EQ flat
9. Modulator 1 what it moves: Pan
10. Envelopes none moves a control here

It is also the quickest way to understand a sound you didn’t make: read the lit stages from left to right and you know what it does before you open a single panel.

04The panels

Every panel follows the same pattern: a title with the layer it edits, a dice for Random (Lesson 2.6), a power switch if it can be switched off, the controls with their values on the right, and a live picture where one helps. A control that does nothing in the current setting is dimmed, and a click on it says why (“Speed works in Scan mode”). Some of the panels this course opens most:

Figure 2.4.4

Subtractive and Filter 1

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1. Title the panel and the layer it edits
2. Live picture the steady wave, here
3. Engine the layer’s engine
4. Choices the lit one is in use
5. Filter 1 beside the oscillators
6. Тype nineteen filters
7. Sliders name on the left, value on the right
8. Filter curve drawn live from the settings

Figure 2.4.5

Envelopes and Modulators

Figure 2.4.6

A macro and its destinations

Figure 2.4.7

The shared effects

Figure 2.4.8

Playing

05Dimmed and folded

KiMiA never hides a control without telling you why. Two signs:

• Dimmed: the control waits on another setting. Unison detune is dimmed until Voices is 2 or more; Mod amount until a Modulation mode is chosen. It still edits, so you can set it in advance.
• Folded: a whole row or panel that does nothing right now shrinks to one line or to its title, with the reason: “Pulse width, PWM: not in use (choose Pulse on Osc 1 or 2)”. One click opens it.

Figure 2.4.9

Dimmed and folded

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1. Dimmed Fine waits for the Sub
2. Dimmed row the Sub’s Wave and Octave
3. Dimmed Unison detune waits for Voices
4. Folded not in use, and why

So when a control seems to do nothing, look at it: dimmed means another control comes first, and its tooltip says which.

06Routing and learning by hand

Three moves you will use in every module from 8 on:

• Drag to route: drag a modulator, envelope or macro button onto a slider, and it moves that slider. A bar under the slider then shows how far its routes reach; drag along it to set the amount. Module 8 starts here.
• Right-click a slider to edit or remove its routes, or for MIDI Learn: then move a knob or slider on your controller, and it controls that slider from now on.
• Lock, beside Save As, keeps the layer strips at the top while you scroll, so you can switch layers anywhere on the page.

07Try it

1. Read a sound. Load 02 · Split Bass and Pad, press x, and read layer A’s sound path. Then click layer B’s strip and read its path. What differs?
2. Jump. Press ⇧F, then ⇧A, then tap the left Shift twice.
3. Find a fold. In the Subtractive panel, find a folded row and read why it is not in use. Make it come alive.
4. Learn a knob. If you have a controller with knobs, right-click Filter 1’s Cutoff, choose MIDI Learn and turn a knob.

08Check yourself