|
A first look at Velvet: Digidesign’s new electric piano plug-in
So I hope everyone is well on their way to having a happy and healthy 2007 full of great music. This week at the corner I want to take short break from the Pro Tools 7.3 madness to look at Digidesign’s latest virtual instrument release, Velvet. Previewed at AES and released late last year, Velvet is an incredible sounding collection of vintage electric pianos developed exclusively for Pro Tools by Digidesign’s A.I.R. group. After much anticipation, I was recently able to get my hands on this hot new plug-in and I thought I would share my experience here at the corner.
Silky Smooth
Based on four legendary models (the Fender Rhodes Suitcase, Fender Rhodes MK I and MK II, and the Wurlitzer A200), Velvet has quickly taken its place among the top Electric Piano plug-ins on the market. Using proprietary “dynamic modeling” technology, Velvet re-creates the classic sounds we know and love with incredible realism and impressive playability. I first heard about this new plug-in just before AES and was very impressed with how it played and sounded at the show. After kicking the tires around for a few weeks, I have recently found myself pulling it out as my new go-to electric piano sound.
How Does It Work
The secret to Velvet’s silky smooth sound and feel lies in its hybrid design. Traditionally, most electric piano plug-ins have either been completely sample based or use some sort of physical modeling to generate the sound. Sample based instrument plug-ins essentially playback a collection of high-resolution recordings (samples) of real instruments mapped to specific notes and velocity ranges. For example, when you strike a C3 with a velocity of 100, the sample engine looks at its key map and streams the appropriate audio file for that note and velocity. The upside to sample-based instruments is their ability to recreate the instrument with razor sharp accuracy, since technically it is playing back a recording of the original instrument. The downside of sampling is that it tends to trade playability for sonic precision. Because there are only a finite number samples for a given note or velocity range, action and feel are often sacrificed.
On the flip side, physically modeled instruments use equations and algorithms to simulate the physical source of the sound. Since the sound is generated in real time as a result of these algorithms, the playability and feel of a modeled instrument plug-in is often much better then its sample based equivalent, but at the expense of the hyper realistic quality provided by a recorded sample. Velvet actually makes use of both sample playback and physical modeling synthesis techniques, what Digidesign refers to as “Dynamic Modeling,” to capture the best of both worlds. Bottom line, Velvet delivers an accurate sound with a great feel.
Getting Under The Hood
While Velvet ships with a ton of great sounding presets (over 100 actually), I thought we would step through creating our own custom patch from scratch, a technique I always find helpful when trying to learn a new plug-in’s feature set.
To start, I have created a stereo instrument track and inserted the Velvet plug-in found under Multi-Channel > Instruments > Velvet.
From the Velvet preset librarian menu I have selected the “SC73 Default” preset as a starting point. This will load up the samples for the Fender Rhodes Suitcase, with a default set of parameters.
Key Mechanics:
One of my favorite features in Velvet is the ability to add the sound of the key mechanics, just as if you were right there in the room playing the real thing. For this patch I have set the “Mechanics” parameter to the “On” position and adjusted the volume to about -3dB. For a cool effect try reducing the volume of the pickup while increasing the mechanics volume.
(Tip: If you right click on the “Key Off” selector and check “Pedal Noise” you can add in noise created by sustain pedal action)
Instrument Condition:
Now to age the instrument a little bit, I have set the “Condition” to about 50%. Since the Velvet samples and models are based on mint condition electric pianos, turning up the “Condition” parameter introduces note-to-note deviations in pitch and dynamic range, just like your favorite beat up Suitcase. I have also added a bit of tube drive to give it some warmth.
 
EQ:
Since the Rhodes tends to sit a bit muddy in a dense mix, I have rolled off some of the lows (using the bass knob) and low mids (at about 245hz) using the built in 3-band EQ.
Tremolo:
Using the depth parameter I will add a bit of tremolo. I have also flipped the stereo switch to give it a classic Suitcase sound.
FX:
So it is sounding pretty good but I want to add just one more element, a wah effect. Now I am looking for a wah that I can control with an expression pedal rather then a tempo synced “auto-wah” style effect, so I will need to do some midi CC mapping to achieve this.
First, I have selected and activated the “WAH” effect in the effects portion of Velvet. Under the “Mode” selector I have selected “Env LP” and have set the “DEPTH to 0.
To assign my expression pedal to the wah “PEDAL” parameter, I can right click (control click if you have a single-click mouse) on the “PEDAL” parameter and select “Learn.” Now I simply move my expression pedal (or whatever knob or fader I want to assign the parameter to) and Velvet automatically assigns the CC to that parameter.
Here is the finished patch:
Of course I could go on and on about the intricacies and features of Velvet but I will stop here and let you do some exploring of your own. Next week I am off to the NAMM show to check out all the latest goodies and gadgets of the New Year. If you can’t make it to the show this year, don’t worry I will be sure to take good notes and fill you in on all the cool new toys and surprises right here at the Corner.
Pro Tip – Default EQ, Dynamics and Plug-in Favorites
New to HD 7.2 and LE 7.3, Pro Tools now allows you to set default EQ and Dynamics plug-ins within your preferences. These default plug-ins will show up at the top of your inserts list (sort of like a favorites list).
To set the default EQ and Dynamics plug-ins:
1. Choose Setups > Preferences and select the Mixing tab.
2. Set the default EQ and Dynamics plug-ins to the ones you use most often.
Now when you click on an insert selector those two plug-ins show up at the top of the list. If that sounds cool, the real trick is that you can actually create your own favorites list within a plug-in type (multi-channel, multi-mono, etc) using a modifier key.
To add a plug-in to the favorites list:
1. Hold down the Command key (Mac) or Control key (PC) before you click on the insert selector
2. Select the plug-in you wish to show up in your favorites list.
3. That plug-in will now show up at the top of the list under that specific plug-in type (for example: mutli-channel TDM plug-in)
4. To remove the plug-in from the list, follow the same steps.
If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback, please send it to brian@audioMIDI.com. I will do my best to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
| 
