Theres four sample-slots with a lot of playback-options and a little step-sequencer.
I'm only covering the very basic functionality here, but, Kerrydan has voluntered to write a decent tutorial (including step-by-step usage and tips). This is in the works, and will be available soon!
There are two versions of Slifty, a Vst-Fx and a Vst-Instrument one. They are basically identical, but depending on your host, one or the other might be more convenient to use.
Installation: Copy SLIFTY_1.0n.dll and SLIFTY_1.0nVSTI.dll to your Vst-Plugin Directory.
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Loading Samples
Click on the 'Wav' button to see the file manager. To load samples, simply drag+drop them from a windows explorer onto the lower half of Slifty. You can drag+drop multiple files at once.
Now you can assign the loaded samples to the four sample-slots. To do so, activate one of the four 'assign' buttons on the right (labeled 'Assign-1' - 'Assign-4'. Then left-click on the file in the listing to load it into a sampleslot.
To remove samples from memory, deactivate the assign-buttons on the right. Now you can select the samples by clicking on them in the listing. Hit the little red 'Del!' button to remove the selected samples from memory.
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Sample-Playback Settings
Use the two sliders below the Waveformdisplay to set the loop start and endpoints.
The three buttons below the loop-sliders:
- innerloopmodus on/off (some weird grainy small loop playback)
- playback reverse / normal
- loop on/off
The 'A - L - R' sliders: Attack - Length - Release Envelope
The upper ALR is the main-Amp-Envelope. The lower one is for controling the envelope of the innerloop (only if activated).
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Buffer View
Here you can see a zoomable waveform of the samples. You can also set loop start/endpoints more accurately here.
The key-commands:
left-click = set startpos
right-click = set endpos
shift+leftclick = fine adj. start
shift+rightclick = fine adj. end
ctrl+left = move both start+endpos
ctrl+right = move both fine adj.
On the zoom-bar, use the following key-commands:
left-click = set left zoom
right-click = set right zoom
shift + left-click = zoom out/show whole wave
shift + right-click = zoom in to loopsize
Recording into Buffer:
It's possible to Record Audio from Sliftys inputs into the samplebuffers!
Activate the 'Record into Buffer!' Button for the Slot you want to record into (1-4).
About how to set the length of the buffer:
There is currently no way to directly tell Slifty to make a certain audiobuffer bigger or smaller than it currently is.
To change the size of a buffer, simply load a wave-file of the desired length, and then record over that.
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Sequencer
Each row corresponds to a sample-slot. The sequencable parameters are:
| Trigger: | triggers the sample (height = gain) |
| Pitch: | set different pitch for every step! (offset from main-pitch setting in the upper-part) |
| Length: | set the length of the gain-envelope for each step (also offset from main-setting ('A-H-R')) |
| Reverse: | set reverse on/off for every step. Changes playback-direction if the sample is not restarted on that same step |
| Probability: | trigger-probability, max. value = always play |
The buttons 0 - 9 and 0, 10, 20 on top of the sequencer are used to switch patterns. With the C (= copy) and the P (= paste) buttons, you can copy/paste patterns.
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Filter / Decimator
Every sampleslot goes thru a filter (lowpass, bandpass or highpass) and can be decimated via samplerate- and bitreduction and a weird shaper.
Click on the red button above the 'cut' and 'res' sliders to switch between the filtertypes.
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Mixer / SendFx
Here you can mix the four slots, mute them, and send each one to a ringmodulator and/or a delay.
The delay can itself be send to the ringmod and vice versa, be careful with feedbacks here!
The 'MainPitch' slider transposes all four slots. Use the button on the right of the slider to select the range (12,24,36,48 seminotes)
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Presets / Midi
On this page you can save and recall presets, that is all the settings in the upperpart as well as the sample-assignment for each slot. It's also possible to copy/paste settings with the red C and P buttons.
Presets can also be recalled via midi-notes. Use the 'midi learn' button to assign notes to the 32 presets.
On the right (blue background) you can assign midinotes to the four sample-slots, to trigger them via midi.
Use the 'midi learn' button to assign them.
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Pattern / Preset - Sequencer
Here we have the Pattern and Preset-Sequencer part of Slifty. It can be used to switch (->chain) the patterns. Also you can switch presets (see above) sequentially. Use the On/Off buttons on the right to activate/deactivate it.
There is more in Slifty that is not explained yet, like for example the 'innerloop-modus' and the 'iL' and 'P' pages on the sequencer.
Just play around with it to see what it can do, or wait untill the decent tutorial from Kerrydan is ready!
Check the ioplong website for news!