Creating an instrument\\

Creating an instrument

From Instrument view, select New instrument( hold shift to duplicate current ) by clicking the icon top left. Now you can first name the instrument by writing its name to the field right to the instrument number.

We assume that you have already loaded some samples or imported a VSTi to plugins library. If not, consult appropriate sections in this manual.

Assigning samples

To assign samples for this instrument, double click any note column under Sample map. A mapping display will pop up, after this you can select the preferred sample from the menu and assign it to the appropriate note by simply clicking to the keyboard. To assign a sample to different octave, use the slider from this view. TIP: to create efficient drumsets, you can assign a bassdrum on C, snare on C#, hihats on D..F, crash on G and so on.

When you are done assigning samples to this instrument, you can test it by hitting notes on your keyboard. TIP: if you cant hear anything, you have most likely not assigned notes to the current octave range. To troubleshoot, download an .xm-file, open it, go to instrument editor and stroke some keys. If you cant hear anything, the fault is in configuration. Now you can use the envelopment editor to adjust pan and volume envelope i.e. ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) to make your instrument sound better/the way you want. For example, you might not want your looped sample to last forever (you want it to stop without adding note-offs after every note), so you can set the envelope to slope downwards to the end.

Assigning VSTi

Modplug provides a stunningly usable/simple/working VSTi implementation, not available on any other free tracker (smells like biased opinion - but you can trust me it is not).

To load a VSTi, it needs to be loaded into VSTi library. Select folder in View-Plugin manager-VST instruments, click New plugin. Browse for the plugin .dll file and select it. It appears into the VSTi folder if it is properly loaded.

NOTE: it is a common problem that some VST-instruments do not work in most hosts, as VSTi- specification does not describe a bullet proof interface. Most of them are only tested on some very common host like Cubase. Whenever you load a VST instrument/plugin, a) save your work b) make sure it is the type of plugin you want (instrument/effect) c) do not load more plugins than you need, they might consume CPU time even when idle and not used in your song!

Assign the VSTi to your instrument from instrument view by selecting it from Plugin/midi section of the screen.

After you have assigned a VSTi, you can use it from the whole octave range. Try keyjazzing a little to see if everything is ok. Note: some plugins only use limited range, e.g. with sfz you can load sound fonts (sf2), which have a pre-defined range.

If you want to adjust the plugin parameters/test the plugin a little, click the editor-button.