VIRTUAL BOUZOUKI MANUAL v1.1

Welcome! First of all we would like to thank you for purchasingVirtual Bouzouki from AKKI PLUGS. We all had a really good timecreating this instrument and we hope you will have a good timeplaying it. This manual contains information about how to useVirtual Bouzouki. Have Fun!

Contents:

FeaturesRequirementsHow to loadMemory consumptionThe interfaceKeyswitch positionsThe position of the samples in every keyswitchMain menu in the script user interface (Perform)Modulation-wheel functionalityPlaying techniquesModerateTremolo functionalityChord functionalityFlageolet functionalityGlissando functionalityFret functionalityRelease notesMidi CC positionsKnown issuesCreditsLinks

Features:• 2.2 GB 24 bit samples• Advanced script programming• 12 keyswitches• 5 velocity layers of plectrum playing downwards

and 5 velocity layers of plectrum playing upwards• All four strings sampled and each string got recorded notes

throughout the full length of the strings • Release samples• Control the hand position on the fret with the modulation wheel.

The position is presented on the layout• Polyphonic playing allows you to play multiple notes at the same time• Monophonic playing allows you to play Hammer-on and Pull-off up to

a range of a major third• Automatically down and up plectrum stroke that depends of how fast you play• Ability to down stroke only

Chords that activates when you play a minor or major triad withautomatic alternation between down and up

• Flageolets• Moderate notes• Single tremolo that changes speed with modulation wheel• Third and sixth minor and major tremolo that changes speed with

modulation wheel• Glissando from and to note upwards the fret• Glissando from and to note downwards the fret• Fx• Phrases played on the bouzouki• Hand position near bridge/hole• Plectrum hardness/softness• Reverb, Delay, Compressor• Fully controllable with midi controllers

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Requirements:

Mac: • Minimum: Mac OS 10.2.6, G4 800MHz, 512 MB RAM, DVD drive• Recommended: Mac OS 10.3.x or higher, G5 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM

PC: • Minimum: Windows XP, Pentium III 1GHz/Athlon 1.4GHz, 512 MB RAM, DVD drive• Recommended: Windows XP, Pentium IV/Athlon 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM

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How to Load:There is two different bouzouki tunings - "Natural Bouzouki" and "Tuned Bouzouki".Because of the fact that the bouzouki has a straight bridge, it never gets perfectly tuned.Therefor we decided to tune the "Tuned Bouzouki" but also keep the "Natural Bouzouki",which is the raw recording of the bouzouki.

There is three different types of loadings under "Natural Bouzouki" and "Tuned Bouzouki".The same for both Natural and Tuned and the only difference is the letter which shows ifthe bouzouki is Natural (N), or Tuned (T).

1. SUSTAIN N (ONLY)2. SUSTAIN T (ONLY)3. BOUZOUKI N (FULL)4. BOUZOUKI T (FULL)5. FULL N (NO TREMOLO)6. FULL T (NO TREMOLO)

Here are two ways to load which version to play

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Memory consumption:Depending on the different version to load they use different amount of RAM

1. SUSTAIN N (ONLY) 52MB (Everything in DFD)2. SUSTAIN T (ONLY) 52MB (Everything in DFD)3. BOUZOUKI N (FULL) 290MB (Everything in DFD except Tremolo)4. BOUZOUKI T (FULL) 290MB (Everything in DFD except Tremolo)5. FULL N (NO TREMOLO) 77MB (Everything in DFD)6. FULL T (NO TREMOLO) 77MB (Everything in DFD)

The loading time is depending on the capacity of your system.The Instrument is built upon 2230 wave files.

1. SUSTAIN N (ONLY) 892 Files2. SUSTAIN T (ONLY) 892 Files3. BOUZOUKI N (FULL) 1570 Files4. BOUZOUKI T (FULL) 1570 Files5. FULL N (NO TREMOLO) 1317 Files6. FULL T (NO TREMOLO) 1317 Files

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The interface:

Native Instruments standard controls:1. Output: Here you can re-route the out going stereo signal to different outputs.2. Midi Channel: Here you can choose on which channel you want the incoming midi.3. Voices: It shows how many voices you can play are and how many you are using. 4. Memory: It shows the amount of RAM you are using within the instrument.5. Solo: Pressing it mutes any other instrument loaded in Kontakt Player. (if any)6. Mute: Pressing it mutes this instrument and let other instruments play within Kontakt Player.7. Tune: Here you can fine tune the instrument against other instrument if needed.8. Balance: Here you can fade the audio signal to either left or right.9. Volume: Here you can set the volume for the instrument.10. VU meter: It shows the outgoing volume and if any clipping.

Information view:

This text line shows what is triggered and played.The text line also shows which string the sustains are played in.Use the red keyswitches to trig another playing style. The blue keyswitches shows the playing range.

"Perform" is the main menu in the user interface where different effects and can be found.

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Keyswitch Positions:C1 Polyphonic modeC#1 Monophonic modeD1 Up/Down (down when pressed, otherwise alternating)D#1 Moderate (damped)E1 Tremolo, single noteF1 Tremolo, two notes (play a major/minor 3rd/6th with right hand)F#1 Chord (play a three note chord with your right hand)G1 FlageoletG#1 Glissando downA1 Glissando upA#1 EffectsB1 Phrases

These are all the keys that can be played.

Red are the Keyswitches (C1-B1)Blue are the playable Keys (C2-B5)

If double pressing one of the keyswitches, that keyswitchwill be held until another keyswitch is pressed.

The position of the Samples in every keyswitch:Sustain C2 to F5Moderate C2 to F5Tremolo single C2 to F5Tremolo 3rd major (A#2+D3) to (C5+E5)

minor (B2+D3) to (C5+D#5)Tremolo 6th major (A2+F#3) to (G#4+F5)

minor (A2+F3) to (A4+F5)Chords major/minor triadFlageolet C-string F2,G2,C3,F3,G3,C4

F-string A#2,C3,F3,A#3,C4,F4 A-string D3,E3,A3,D4,E4,A4 D-string G3,A3,D4,G4,A4,D5

Glissando C2 to F5FX C2 to B5Phrases C2 to B5Hammer-on C#2 to F5Pull-off C2 to E5

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Main menu in the script user interface: (Perform)

Perform is where the user can make changes for the following.

Effects view

Bridge: change the hand position.The more is added under "Bridge", the nearer the plectrum-hand gets to the bridge. The start-position is the plectrum-hand near the hole (0%).

Near the hole (0%) Near the bridge (100%)

Plectrum: change the thickness/softness.The more is added under "plectrum", the softer the plectrum gets.The start-position is a thick plectrum (0%).

EQ view: Standard equalizer of three bands with controls for frequency, bandwidth and gain.

Reverb view:

Delay view:

Compressor view:

Help View: Shows the positions of the keyswitches

About View: Credits for the people who made this instrument possible

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Modulation-wheel functionality:The modulation wheel has two functions. When sustain is triggered the modulation-wheel controls which strings will activate on the specific note played. The higher the modulation wheel gets, the more being played on the lower bass strings and contrary-The lower the modulation wheel gets, the more being played on the higher treble/tenor strings. When tremolo is being triggered (single tremolo or 3rd/6th major and minor) the modulation wheel works with the tremolo speed in real time.

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Playing Techniques:

The Virtual Bouzouki has five velocity layers of plectrum down and five velocity layers of plectrum up. It is programmed to play every other down and up when fast played and only down when played slow. Hammer-on and Pull-off are triggered by playing an interval of up to 4 notes up or down.

Polyphonic:

In polyphonic mode multiple notes can be triggered at the same time. Hammer-on and Pull-off can not be triggered in this mode. Every note is played clean even when they overlap each-other.

Monophonic:In monophonic mode Hammer-on and Pull-off can be trigger when overlapping a note up to arange of a major third.

Only Down:By holding down D1 only plectrum down will be triggered.

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Moderate: (damped)Moderate notes will be triggered.

C-string

F-string

A-string

D-string

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Tremolo functionality:

Each tremolo is about 10 second sample for more realistic feeling. It automatically loops and can change speed by using the modulation wheel.

Single tremolo:Single looped tremolo

Single Tremolo

Major Third Tremolo

Minor Third Tremolo

Third/Sixth major/minor tremolo:By playing a major or minor third or sixth the equivalent tremolo will be played.

Major/Minor Sixth Tremolo

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Chord functionality:To activate a chords you have to play a triad in either major or minor.It's important that the keynote is the lowest.The chords include major and minor, both played with plectrum down and up.The chords are used for the first octave and repeated for the following three.

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Flageolet functionality:

The Flageolet-samples are mapped on the keys as they are positioned on the bouzouki.Therefor the user has to control the modulation wheel to use the desired flageolet.There is two velocities of flageolets. The lower velocity is moderate flageolets and thehigher is normal flageolets.

This is the mapping of each string:

C-string

F-string

A-string

D-string

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Glissando functionality:There are two keyswitches for glissando. G#1 triggers glissando from high to low and A1triggers glissando from low to high. Both keyswitches include two velocities where the lowvelocity is glissando TO the specific note played and the high is glissando FROM the specificnote played. When played fast and with the higher velocity the typical bouzouki effect sounds.

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Fret functionality:One and the same note can often be played on multiple different strings on the real instrument. Whereas many other stringed instrument sample libraries only includes samples for the lowerfret numbers on most strings, we have recorded notes throughout the full length of the stringsin order to capture the timbral differences between these alternative playing positions.This gives you increased flexibility and realism.

MIDI CC#1 - normally mapped to the modulation wheel by default - is used to set the left hand playing position along the neck of the bouzouki. Low values gives you samples played on lowfret numbers and high values gives you samples played on the higher fret numbers. When youplay a note on your keyboard the string on which the fret corresponding to this note is closest tothe current playing position is chosen. Hence, the playing position implicitly determines thechoice of string and thereby also which sample is to be played.

Even if the note you play on your keyboard cannot be played at the exact playing position set by MIDI CC#1, the best match will be used.

These are the 24 playing positions that can be controlled by the modulation wheel.

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Release Notes:The release notes is activated when the playing hand release the note.All Sustains and tremolos includes release notes to increase the realistic sound of the instrument.

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Midi CC positions:

These are the Midi CC numbers for which you can control the instrument using thecontrollers on your midi keyboard or control surface.

Pedal CC 64 (sustained)Mod Wheel CC 01Pitch Wheel CC 13

Effects:Bridge CC 20Plectrum CC 21

EQ:Freq 1 CC 22Bandw 1 CC 23Gain 1 CC 24Freq 2 CC 25Bandw 2 CC 26Gain 2 CC 27Freq 3 CC 28Bandw 3 CC 29Gain 3 CC 30

Reverb:Pre Dly. CC 31Size CC 32Color CC 33Damping CC 34Width CC 35Return CC 36

Delay:Time CC 37Damping CC 38Pan CC 39Feedback CC 40

Compressor:Thresh. CC 41Ratio CC 42Attack CC 43Release CC 44Output CC 45

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Known Issues:Because it utilizes keyswitching, all samples from all layers and zones are stackedupon each other, therefor it might be confusing looking at the on-screen keyboardas it shows both what's playable and what's not.

When playing Chords, the on-screen keyboard (key C4) might be flickering due tofunctions in the script and there is no current workaround.

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Credits:Carlos Giotis, Fredrik Nyqvist, Nils Liberg, Stavros Genaridis, Stefan Kåberg

And thanks to the Beta testers:Charlie Storm, Erik Widén, Sven Bornemark, Lenny Ibizarre, Chris Harvey, Mark Ambervill,Leonidas Tsalikidis, Stavros Gemitzoglou, Kostas Panagiotidis.

Original visual concept by Fredrik Nyqvist.Thanks to Magnus Aronson for the visualization printing details.

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Links:www.virtualbouzouki.cominfo@virtualbouzouki.com

www.retrosampling.sewww.native-instruments.com