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Kephren is a programmable virtual analog monophonic / polyphonic synthesizer with a synthesis structure close to what you could find on some classic 80's polysynths.
Two programmable / switchable on the fly effects have been added. It comes with 65 presets and works only on the PC3Le, because of Le's great controlers layout... | ||
K-Plug's part 2 !
Kephren is the next step of the K-Plug's concept.
A K-Plug is basically an optimized program that allow you to make new sounds only with the PC3's controlers.
Those plug's are really simple to use, just adjust the controlers and make your sound, in exactly the same way you would do with a real synth.
Let's have a look at Kephren's parameters...
Oscillators section :
Kephren is the next step of the K-Plug's concept.
A K-Plug is basically an optimized program that allow you to make new sounds only with the PC3's controlers.
Those plug's are really simple to use, just adjust the controlers and make your sound, in exactly the same way you would do with a real synth.
Let's have a look at Kephren's parameters...
Oscillators section :
This section brings two separate and programmable oscillators.
Osc 1 has a structure close to the one you could find on Roland(tm) juno serie.
You can select SAW and / or PULSE (with PW and PWM) wave at the same time. The levels have been adjusted to give you "saw animation" when both waves are selected.
It means you will have a resulting waveform sounding like two detuned (or frozen in any position !) sawtooth, depending on the PulseWidth or Pulse Width modulation settings.
A Sub oscillator is also available at -1 octave and you can choose between a SINE wave for a light sub effect or a SQUARE wave for the classic effect.
OSC 2 allows you to add a SAW or SQUARE wave to the first oscillator. This oscillator can be tuned from -2 oct to +2 oct from OSC 1 and can be slightly detuned with a dedicated knob.
A ring modulator has been added, it works by taking the SQUARE wave from OSC 2 and ringmodulated it with the SAW and / or PULSE from OSC 1. It's good for bell type sounds and other out-of-tune effect. Note that the sub oscillator is not affected by the RingMod, so you always have a tuning reference...
The RingMod needs two sources to work, the SQUARE wave from OSC 2 always feeds one of the source, but if you switch off SAW and PULSE from OSC 1, the RingMod will stay silent.
The last thing to know is that you can still add the SAW or SQUARE wave of OSC 2 in the mix, nice for fattening the sound...
Keyboard mode :
Kephren allows you to switch between monophonic or polyphonic mode, and of course this parameter is saved with your sound.
Efx 1 / Efx 2 :
You have two separate effects available in serial. They are fully adjustable in the parameter's page once you hit the 'edit' button.
You can still switch them ON / OFF on the fly and save everything in one second ! Realtime you said ?
Kephren comes with built in chorus / delay, but others effects may be found in future updates...
Other functions :
Osc 1 has a structure close to the one you could find on Roland(tm) juno serie.
You can select SAW and / or PULSE (with PW and PWM) wave at the same time. The levels have been adjusted to give you "saw animation" when both waves are selected.
It means you will have a resulting waveform sounding like two detuned (or frozen in any position !) sawtooth, depending on the PulseWidth or Pulse Width modulation settings.
A Sub oscillator is also available at -1 octave and you can choose between a SINE wave for a light sub effect or a SQUARE wave for the classic effect.
OSC 2 allows you to add a SAW or SQUARE wave to the first oscillator. This oscillator can be tuned from -2 oct to +2 oct from OSC 1 and can be slightly detuned with a dedicated knob.
A ring modulator has been added, it works by taking the SQUARE wave from OSC 2 and ringmodulated it with the SAW and / or PULSE from OSC 1. It's good for bell type sounds and other out-of-tune effect. Note that the sub oscillator is not affected by the RingMod, so you always have a tuning reference...
The RingMod needs two sources to work, the SQUARE wave from OSC 2 always feeds one of the source, but if you switch off SAW and PULSE from OSC 1, the RingMod will stay silent.
The last thing to know is that you can still add the SAW or SQUARE wave of OSC 2 in the mix, nice for fattening the sound...
Keyboard mode :
Kephren allows you to switch between monophonic or polyphonic mode, and of course this parameter is saved with your sound.
Efx 1 / Efx 2 :
You have two separate effects available in serial. They are fully adjustable in the parameter's page once you hit the 'edit' button.
You can still switch them ON / OFF on the fly and save everything in one second ! Realtime you said ?
Kephren comes with built in chorus / delay, but others effects may be found in future updates...
Other functions :
As stated above, OSC 2's frequency can be adjusted, note that you have the zero point when the knob is at 12 o'clock.
Same thing for the Pulse Width of Osc 1, you have a perfect square wave at middle position, so the width goes from -50 % to + 50 %.
The Pulse width Modulation knob goes from 0 to + 50 %, so in conjunction with the Pulse Width you can experiment a lot of PWM effects...
I added a noise generator with an adjustable volume so you can add a little bit of 'dirt' into your sound or use only the noise as a source for wind, seashore and other stuffs.
There is a glide function which can make frequency sweeps (+/- 1 octave) and the speed is controled by the decay section of the envelope. I first used the attack segment but i had better results with the decay one.
Note that the glide affects only OSC 1. I did it this way because i was thinking of making brass sounds with one of the oscillator beeing stable while the other sees his frequency changes in time.
You can have interesting results too using the glide function in ringmodulation...
So it's time for experiments !
Envelope
The envelope is an ADSR type envelope, it affects the amplitude and the filter of the sound and you can control the attack time, the decay time, the sustain level and release time.
As you may know, there is no controlable sustain in Kurzweil VAST so i used a trick. This trick can bring little 'clicks' or 'pops' in the tail of the release segment in some conditions.
If you hear some, just lower a bit the sustain level.
Filter
Kephren uses a 24 dB/Oct Lowpass filter with a 100 % keyboard tracking. You can control the filter frequency, the resonance and the envelope generator intensity.
The envelope intensity can be adjusted in positive or negative, with no action when the knob is at center position.
Note that the you only have attack, decay and release signal from the envelope to the filter.
The sustain level is achieved with filter frequency and envelope generator adjustments.
The last control you have for the filter is the LFO.
LFO
The LFO is a freerun SINE wave and it has a dedicated speed knob
It is spread across the synthesis engine and controls the oscillators frequencies for vibrato, the PULSE wave of OSC 1 for pulse width modulations and the filter for filter sweeps.
Programming
Well, there is nothing much to say about the programming method of Kephren. It's a virtual analog synthesizer and you can adjust all synthesis parameters with the left panel of the PC3Le.
If you want to adjust the effects, just hit the edit button and you will enter the parameters pages. Scroll down to the effects settings and make the adjustments.
BTW you can make adjusments for the synthesis parameters too...
Same thing for the Pulse Width of Osc 1, you have a perfect square wave at middle position, so the width goes from -50 % to + 50 %.
The Pulse width Modulation knob goes from 0 to + 50 %, so in conjunction with the Pulse Width you can experiment a lot of PWM effects...
I added a noise generator with an adjustable volume so you can add a little bit of 'dirt' into your sound or use only the noise as a source for wind, seashore and other stuffs.
There is a glide function which can make frequency sweeps (+/- 1 octave) and the speed is controled by the decay section of the envelope. I first used the attack segment but i had better results with the decay one.
Note that the glide affects only OSC 1. I did it this way because i was thinking of making brass sounds with one of the oscillator beeing stable while the other sees his frequency changes in time.
You can have interesting results too using the glide function in ringmodulation...
So it's time for experiments !
Envelope
The envelope is an ADSR type envelope, it affects the amplitude and the filter of the sound and you can control the attack time, the decay time, the sustain level and release time.
As you may know, there is no controlable sustain in Kurzweil VAST so i used a trick. This trick can bring little 'clicks' or 'pops' in the tail of the release segment in some conditions.
If you hear some, just lower a bit the sustain level.
Filter
Kephren uses a 24 dB/Oct Lowpass filter with a 100 % keyboard tracking. You can control the filter frequency, the resonance and the envelope generator intensity.
The envelope intensity can be adjusted in positive or negative, with no action when the knob is at center position.
Note that the you only have attack, decay and release signal from the envelope to the filter.
The sustain level is achieved with filter frequency and envelope generator adjustments.
The last control you have for the filter is the LFO.
LFO
The LFO is a freerun SINE wave and it has a dedicated speed knob
It is spread across the synthesis engine and controls the oscillators frequencies for vibrato, the PULSE wave of OSC 1 for pulse width modulations and the filter for filter sweeps.
Programming
Well, there is nothing much to say about the programming method of Kephren. It's a virtual analog synthesizer and you can adjust all synthesis parameters with the left panel of the PC3Le.
If you want to adjust the effects, just hit the edit button and you will enter the parameters pages. Scroll down to the effects settings and make the adjustments.
BTW you can make adjusments for the synthesis parameters too...
Polyphony
Unfortunatly Kephren uses a lot a DSP processing and i really wanted to give you something fun to use.
The main drawback is about polyphony because you will have about 5 voices left and sometimes 4.
Well we have examples of classic polysynths that have from 4 to 6 voices polyphony...
It can be a problem for some who wanted to use Kephren in multitimbral or setup mode, so beware of this !
Personnaly i mainly do multitracking in my DAW, i barely use the multitimbral mode.
And one last thing, i didn't program any velocity in Kephren because all the vintage synths i used didn't have it. I never thought something was missing, it's a personnal choice...
Beside this i hope you will have fun exploring this synthesizer.
If you like Kephren, spread the word, not the file !
All sounds programmed by Stephane 'Barb' Garganigo
Unfortunatly Kephren uses a lot a DSP processing and i really wanted to give you something fun to use.
The main drawback is about polyphony because you will have about 5 voices left and sometimes 4.
Well we have examples of classic polysynths that have from 4 to 6 voices polyphony...
It can be a problem for some who wanted to use Kephren in multitimbral or setup mode, so beware of this !
Personnaly i mainly do multitracking in my DAW, i barely use the multitimbral mode.
And one last thing, i didn't program any velocity in Kephren because all the vintage synths i used didn't have it. I never thought something was missing, it's a personnal choice...
Beside this i hope you will have fun exploring this synthesizer.
If you like Kephren, spread the word, not the file !
All sounds programmed by Stephane 'Barb' Garganigo
