>Step by step

Maximise your keyboard performance potential

1

The first step is to load Arturia Pigments or your synth equivalent into your DAW. Then click Menu and New Preset. This will initialise all of Pigments’ parameters to their default state. If you play the keys on your MIDI keyboard you should only be hearing a raw unaffected sine patch. 2

Next we will select our waveforms. For this classic analogue patch, a mix of saws and squares are selected. Select the Analog option in Engine 1; OSC 1 to a Square and pitched down -12 semitones. OSC 2 stays a sawtooth and pitched up to a perfect fifth, 7 semitones and Volume is set to max. 3

Let’s start shaping the sound and getting it prepared for the performance modulation parameters. Inside Filter 1, select Mini as the filter type from the dropdown menu. Lower the Filter Cutoff position to around halfway. Click LFO 1 and assign 0.20 to the Filter 1 Cutoff. 4

In order to achieve a sharper rhythmical sound we change the LFO waveform from a sine to a downwards sawtooth. The waveform is set to triangle and Symmetry to 0.00. We would like a slower LFO rate as a starting point so set this to around 0.170Hz. 5

This is where things start to get really interesting. Velocity is set to control the amount of LFO affecting the Filter Cutoff. The harder a key is pressed the more noticeable LFO modulation becomes. In addition to that we also assigned Velocity to control the LFO Rate; faster rates being applied to harder key presses. 6

Now we move to keyboard tracking. Assigning KBD to the Volume of OSC 2 enables us to control the loudness of OSC 2 depending on the keyboard position. Set the KBD Amount to -0.80. This makes the sound thicker in the lower frequencies due to the introduction of oscillator 2. The higher notes remain as a single sawtooth to prevent harsh top end.

7

Similar to the previous point, we can assign KBD to Distortion amount. This will saturate the lower frequencies, whilst keeping the higher frequencies unaffected. Select Distortion from the dropdown menu in FX A; Dry/Wet to 100%. Assign KBD to Drive at around -0.40.

8

Using a delay always works to bring some liveliness to the synth patch. In the second FX slot for FX A select a delay from the dropdown menu. Set Dry/Wet to 38%, Time Div to 1/8 and increase the Feedback to around 0.436. Enable Ping Pong mode for some extra stereo width.

9

To keep the low end from getting muddy the keyboard tracking can be assigned to the delay Dry/Wet. This will ensure that the lower octaves of the patch will be less effected and retain the focus.

10

A lot of the higher-end MIDI keyboards feature aftertouch functionality. This is another tool we can use to bring a performance element to our synth patches. Assign AT to Filter Cutoff position.

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Another creative way that we can use aftertouch is by assigning it to the noise Oscillator Amount. This will apply more white noise to the patch once you apply more pressure to the keys after they have been pressed.

12

Finally, the patch can be thickened further by increasing the number of voices in the unison section. Set the number of voices to 2 and assign Aftertouch (AT) to the Detune Amount. This will result in an ensemble type of effect with more pressure.