BOSENDORFER 290
Technical Notes:
Bosendorfer 290 PROGRAM NOTES & DESCRIPTIONS
Bosendorfer 290 PROGRAM NOTES & DESCRIPTIONS
THE 16 LAYER PROGRAMS
B290 POP Sustain samples: a really nice pop piano sound with
16 programmed layers of velocity. It uses the DRY samples mainly but an
additional layer of sustain samples is added. There is a global parametric
filter activated that adds a little brilliance. You can switch it off if it
uses too much CPU power and replace the filter by one of your own filtering
techniques after the recording.
B290 Dry 16 layers:
This is the basic 16 layers DRY sound. DRY means the piano was recorded from a
short distance so not too much room ambience is heard in this set of samples.
B290 Dry 16 realtime
Sustain: This patch has a unique feature. The moment you press
the sustain pedal (even when notes are already sounding) an additional layer
cross fades in that has the rich resonance of the sustain pedal down samples.
This features uses 2 samples for each note played, so polyphony will be 50%
LESS. However the level of realism that is achieved by this method is stunning.
B290 Dry 16 realtime+filt:
This is the same program as above (Real-time sustain) but this time a Low Pass
Filter has been added in the signal chain to allow a mellow sound.
B290 Dry 16 with Sustain samples:
This is the main 16 layers Dry program with sustain samples. The sustain
samples are activated in the normal way; after the sustain pedal is pressed.
B290 dry pedal up:
This is a fairly "light" DRY 16 layer program. It has been limited to
16 voices playback and does not use any filtering effects that are CPU
intensive.
B290 Dry realtime
Sus no rel : Same program as B290 Dry 16 real-time Sustain but this time
the release sample layer has been disabled to conserve polyphony. The max. amount of voices has been
set to 88. Try using this program when the original real-time sustain program
chokes your computer.
B290 Dry with Sustain no release:
Same program as B290 Dry 16 with Sustain samples but this time the release
sample layer has been disabled to conserve polyphony. The
max. amount of voices has been set to 88. Try
using this program when the original program chokes your computer.
B290 pedal resonance:
This is a very special patch. It uses the resonance samples only but it only
plays when the sustain pedal is down! We designed it to be used in a multi
set-up. You can use any other program on one slot of a multi and add this one
for extra resonance. Or you can split a midi recording in two midi tracks; one
with the sustain pedal up and one with the pedal down. Anyway, this patch is
perfect for thrill seekers.
B290 Wet 16 layer+rel:
This is the basic 16 layers WET sound. WET means the
piano was recorded from a certain distance to let the room ambience do its job
on the harmonics of the piano.
B290 Wet 16 layer+rel 2: Same as
above, but the G#3 and A3 FFF notes have been replaced by less harsh/metallic
samples. Try it when you encounter these notes in the basic wet patch and find
them disturbing.
B290 Wet 16 layer:
This is the basic 16 layers WET sound as above but this time the release sample
layer has been disabled to conserve polyphony. Try using this program when the
original program chokes your computer.
B290 Wet 16 layer
2: Same as above, but the G#3 and A3 FFF notes have been
replaced by less harsh/metallic samples. Try it when you encounter these notes
in the basic wet patch and find them disturbing.
B/ OTHER PROGRAMS
DRY MINIMUM SYSTEM LOAD:
Designed to set up and test your Bosendorfer 290 plug-in. This program uses 1
layer of samples, all dry, and no filters. This is the patch that uses the
minimum amount of RAM and CPU recourses.
DRY 1 Layer:
very light program, uses only one layer and has some lpf
filtering to make the dynamic response better
Dry 2 layer LPF:
light program, uses only 2 layers and has some lpf
filtering to make the dynamic response better
Dry 3 layer:
3 layers.
DRY 8 Layer :
A good medium load DRY basic patch, has a master filter activated. Can be used
when the 16 layer programs are too "heavy"
DRY 8 LAYER BASIC no filters : as above without any filters
DRY 8 LAYER LONG RELEASE:
as above with longer release time settings
DRY 8 LAYER PIANOHALL
: as above with beautiful reverb setting
DRY LOW DYNAMICS:
An 8 velocity layer DRY program that has adjusted velocity scaling to allow
less dynamic playing.
DRY BASIC PATCH:
uses filters
DRY & WET MOD:
The combined DRY and WET patches, where the modulation wheel on your master
keyboard (or the one in the Bosendorfder 290 screen)
can be used to balance between the two microphone perspectives. This features
uses 2 samples for each note played, so polyphony will be 50% LESS.
WET 8 LAYER:
Basic 8 layer WET patch without sustain samples.
WET 8 LAYER SUS:
Basic 8 layer WET patch with sustain samples.
WET BASIC 4 LAYER:
Basic 4 layer WET patch, with sustain samples.
WET BASIC 8 LAYER:
Same as WET 8 LAYER, less filtering applied.
WET REALTIME SUS:
Basic 8 layer WET patch with real-time operated sustain samples
WET 4 REALTIME SUSTAIN:
Basic 4 layer WET patch with real-time operated sustain samples
DRY BRIAN ENO:
with all fx he used
DRY CHEAP BOSIE : cheap
sounding bosie
DRY COMPRESSED:
very little dynamics, compression.
DRY DARK:
high end is filtered out
DRY HI DYNAMICS:
has extended dynamic range
DRY NO RELEASE:
8 layer dry patch without release samples
DRY PERC:
very percussive piano settings
DRY VERY SHORT:
very short release time settings
DRY8 LONG REL: very
long release layer settings
Q: When
I enable the DFD mode in Kompakt, I can only play very few voices without
clicks and pops. How can I improve the performance?
A:
First you should note that the read rate of any hard disk generally is much
slower compared with the computer's RAM. On the other side, on a modern hard
disk running in a good configured system, it is possible to get 100 voices and
more without any dropouts. If you get a
very bad performance in DFD mode, you should try out the following things: Defrag the hard disk where your samples are
located. This is an essential point, since otherwise a lot of samples will not
be read in one block, but the DFD read pointer has to jump between the parts of
a sample which are scattered on your hard disk. Nearly all operating systems
have an included disk defragmentation tool. A defragmented disk also helps increasing the performance of
a sequencer's audio track playback, by the way.
Even more important is the optimum DFD setting in The
PMI Bosendorfer 290 Kompakt Player. To
access the DFD settings : click on the OPTIONS BUTTON
and select the DFD option.
You will see this window opening:
Make sure the DFD ACTIVE is lighted and select the
Expert settings.
After changing the settings you must always press
APPLY in order to make the changes take effect. If you click on exit your changes will be
lost!
Unfortunately there is not a general rule how to set
it up, but you have to experiment with the setting to match the best result for
your individual system:
• EXPERT SETTINGS:
You can set all parameters individually if you want to optimize the DFD
settings depending on your system and on the sample material that you will be
using. You should experiment with two parameters "Preload Buffer
Size" and "Voice Buffer Size".
Always have an eye on the display Mem
Total, since with very high settings your physical RAM might be exceeded.
DFD - Voice
buffer size The voice
buffer size is the size that you want to assign to each voice that will be
streamed. This enables you to use more RAM for each voice that will be streamed
and less RAM for each sample that is loaded into RAM. A higher voice buffer
setting is very useful if you have a slow hard drive,
a smaller voice buffer setting will use less RAM but will stress your hard
drive more.
DFD - Bounce
mode Sometimes
when rendering or bouncing audio tracks from within your host sequencer,
dropouts or crackles may be noticeable in the rendered track. The reason for
this is the communication from the host to the plug-in. Some hosts render the tracks
without any problem, some not. In case your host might have problems with
rendering the audio tracks, the bounce button appears in the Kontakt interface.
In this case press this bounce button when rendering your audio tracks.
The DFD light will light up yellow when you play
normal. When there is too much hard drive pressure the DFD light will turn red
and playback will be interrupted.
Library location
on your hard drive.
First click on the OPTIONS button in the main
Bosendorfer 290 application. Then click on the Settings
button (Marked in orange in the picture below).
When
you select Settings the next window
opens:
The lowest line indicates where the Boesendorfer 290 Library folder is located. This is the
location that you selected during the initial installation process of the
Bosendorfer 290. This location is by default:
YOUR_DRIVE_NAME:\East
West\Boesendorfer 290\Boesendorfer 290 Library\
This location can be changed after installation if you
want. Just click on the button indicated with the white arrow and you will get
an explorer-type of window where you can tell where you have stored your
BOESENDORFER 290 Library files.
Inside this folder the INSTRUMENTS folder is found,
where all the .nki –programs* for the Bosendorfer 290
are stored. Here you can also add your own program variations and multis.
*The .nki programs are the instrument presets that show up under
each empty slot of the multi. These can be loaded by clicking on the small
triangle in an empty multi slot.
Before you can use your plug-in you will need to
configure your audio and midi settings.
To do so open the SETUP menu, located in the top left
corner.
You will see this SETUP PANEL
The first tab gives you control over the Soundcard options.
We advise that you use the ASIO
Driver in the first INTERFACE
option.
In the ROUTING TAB you have to select the output
channels of the plug-in.
MIDI SETUP
Then you have to enable your Midi INPUTS, by default
all midi inputs are disabled. To enable a port simply click on the “off”indicator and it will change into “ON”.
After you have finished setting up you have to click
OK to store the settings.