z3ta+ questions

How's it going, neighbor? z3ta+ IS a remarkable synth, but the same complexity that makes it so special also can be difficult to wrap your head around at the start. I did find the manual to be invaluable, but I also gleaned a lot of information from the k-V-r forum in the beginning stages. There's also a free "book" here entitled How to make a noise. It has some good info on general programming techniques, and a walk-through on creating a z3ta+ patch. As a supplement to z3ta's manual, always check out the release notes text files found with each new version for important new details not found in the manual.

As for creating arpeggios, there's a little applet under the Arpeggios folder (called mid2cmp.exe) that does the heavy lifting for you. I don't think that Rene would mind if I reprinted the instructions here. They're also found in the Readme.txt file under that same Arpeggio subfolder:

How to create arpeggio files (.cmp) for z3ta+
---------------------------------------------


1- Create a 1-bar, 4/4 type-0 MIDI file with your arpeggio (check input.mid as sample).
2- Name it 'input.mid' and put it in -same folder- than mid2cmp.exe
3- Run mid2cmp.exe. This will create a file called 'arp000.cmp' in the same folder.
4- Rename it as next available arpeggio slot (ie 'arp052.cmp').
5- Try it in z3ta+. It's not needed to restart z3ta+ to re-test it, just reselect it.


The arpeggio will play:


1- Note On, Note Off
2- Velocity (z3ta+ patch should take care of -what- velocity does).
3- Pitch Bend (z3ta+ patch should set the pitch bend range to required and any extra assignment of it).
4- Polyphonic aftertouch.

mid2cmp will filter all other events in the .mid file (metaevents, aftertouch, controllers, etc.)

Enjoy!
------

As far as creating, saving, and loading your own custom creations, you can manage that under the Bank and Program buttons. If you want to start from a base configuration, look for Initialize under the Program selector. Unless you subsequently save over the default program or bank, this won't overwrite what's loaded when you bring up the synth the next time. I believe that you were also making mention of the "Song Persistence" properties. In your host application, any tweaks that you make to the synth (from scratch, or modifying existing patches) will get stored as a saved state along with the host app's song itself.

This won't affect the default banks and programs within z3ta+ itself, but it will offer you a way to have a repeatable configuration of z3ta+ independent of that. What I do is set up a "programming template" song for experimentation purposes for each synth that I regularly use. That way, you can freely change whatever you might want to, and have the choice later on to keep it as a patch, or discard it as an interim step in the process.

mosspa, I do not think you're a dunce at all.

Actually I wrote an issue report based on your post about the Rapture pdf manual so for future versions of Rapture and all our instruments we find a way to make all information for a plugin available easily. Whether the decision will be placing the pdf in the root or not I can't say, but your suggestion has been noticed.

Regarding z3ta+, the MIDI2CMP program which is used to translate MIDI into arpeggio files, removing all unused tags and stuff, was added in version 1.1, after the original release. z3ta+ comes from the old rgc:audio days, which I used to run. Back then, the User Manual remained unchanged for all the dot versions, and it was complemented with Release Notes for each new release. That was what we thought the most organized and simple way, as it provides all the information without forcing users to re-read the manual to find out what's new.

When you install z3ta+, the installer offers you the option to read the Release Notes for the version you installed. As with Rapture, z3ta+ will create a folder called 'Documentation', where the Release Notes document lives. Within that Release Notes document, there's a pointer to where you can find more information about how to create your own arpeggio files (which is inside the \Arpeggio folder). Needless to say, this is more a feature oriented to Sound Designers than End Users, and therefore it lives in some 'non mainstream' place.

It is all about a learning experience. When I released the first version of Triangle I, I created an installer which created many Start menu accesses. It turned out that most VST users did hate it, as VST plugins were thought as a 'simple dll' file which users would manually put in the right folder(s). Then, the shortcuts were considered 'invasive and abusive'. You can still find all those comments if you do a history search in the rgc:audio forum at K-v-R. Then, I changed the installer to be as minimalistic as possible. As weird as it might sound for nowaday's standard, a couple of years ago it was very common for users to have to install VST plugins by copying manually some files, and knowing the folder structure a plugin required wasn't really a strange demand.


Anyways, we do wish to give everyone the best information available in the fastest possible way at any time. I hope we find it is possible. But in case it's not, you can come here anytime for an answer



-René