SP Studio Systems SP-12 - Manual (Page 16)

GETTING READY
© E-mu Systems, Inc. 1985 Page 16
Enhanced by The Emulator Archive 2002 www.emulatorarchive.com
1F TUNING THE DRUMS/CHANGING DECAY (SET-UP 18)
1. You may tune or change the decay time of any of the drum sounds. Cymbals
may also be tuned, but due to the nature of the SP-12’s tuning change
software, the sound will probably be different from your expectations of a
“tuned cymbal” (SP-12 tuning creates more of a ring modulation type of
effect).
2. Each sound may be programmed to have its tuning or decay (but not both)
varied by its associated slider while the TUNE/DECAY LED is lit. Whether the
slider affects tuning or decay is programmed in the SET-UP module. Activate
SETUP, then key in 18. Play the desired sound. The display will indicate
whether the sound is “TUNED” or “DECAYED”. Key in 1 if you want the slider
to vary the tuning, or 2 if you want the slider to vary the decay. Drums and
claps default to tuning variations, while cymbals default to decay variations.
3. Press the TUNE-MIX-MULTI switch until the TUNE/DECAY LED lights.
Sounds which are set for decay mode have a small diagonal line above the
drum sound number. The display graphically shows the relative tuning or
decay of each drum; the center line indicates normal pitch or decay.
4. Vary the slider above the corresponding Drum Play button to vary the
individual tuning (plus or minus a fifth) for each drum set for tuning change.
As soon as you move the slider, the corresponding display graph will jump to
its new position. The higher-pitched the drum, the taller the bar; the lower-
pitched the drum, the shorter the bar. With those sounds set for decay
change, varying the slider changes the amount of decay. The longer the
decay, the taller the bar; the shorter the decay, the shorter the bar.
1G BACKGROUND: SETTING UP ADDITIONAL SOUNDS
This is where things really start to get interesting, thanks to a cute little trick called
multimode and its offshoots, multipitch and multilevel.
Multipitch takes a single drum sound or handclap and “spreads” its pitch over all eight
Drum Play buttons, with the leftmost button playing the highest pitch and the
rightmost button playing the lowest pitch. With cymbals, multipitch spreads the decay
with the leftmost button playing the longest decay and the rightmost button playing
the shortest decay.
Multilevel takes a sound and spreads the level over all eight Drum Play buttons, with
the leftmost button playing the softest level and the rightmost button playing the
loudest level.