I cannot find a manual for the rgc Square I VST synth that came with Home Studio 6. Am I missing something? (I couldn't find one at the rgcaudio.com site, either.)

Thanks,

Will_W

there's no manual. you just have to use the help files. after you have the properties page open, press F1 while the focus is on that window.

From the Square I main window there is a VST menu to the right of the Presets selection box. In the VST > Plug-in Properties dialog hitting F1 does nothing. There is also only the Square I .dll file in the install directory - no .chm Windows help file. Possibly I'm looking in the wrong place?

there might not be a help file for that plugin. sorry. I don't have square I myself, most of the plugins have at least a small chm file in the same directory as the dll file, so I was assuming this one did as well. i guess there's not any documentation on it.

Will:

Square I is a pretty basic synth. Usually they don't bother with help manuals for synths like that because all the controls are right there...there's not much to say about it...no unorthodox or unusual features that aren't obvious just from looking at the interface. If you have some specific question or problem you can try the support forum for RGC at KVR:

RGC Support Forum

If you're completely lost and don't know where to start then probably what you need is a general book on synthesis like this one:

VST Instruments by Simon Millward

There are other good ones I'm sure. Do a search on Amazon. The one above is one that I have and it was very helpful for me.

Uh, yeah, it's a basic synth, but to say there's nothing that isn't obvious about it is just inaccurate.  It's oscillator waveforms are not even identified.  It's just a knob with 9 positions, none of which are identified.   Maybe sophisticated synth users can hear the difference between a 6% Pulse Wave and a 12% Pulse Wave, but I doubt that most can do that just by rotating the dial...particularly if they are using Square instead of a more feature-rich synth.  


Also hidden are certain knobs.  For instance, I don't think it is "usual" that if you click on the "Shape" label that all the knobs become "Mode" knobs instead of Shape knobs.  There are several situations like that.  Fine becomes Phase.  Coarse becomes Pitch EG.  Etc.  Right clicking the Square I label in the bottom corner generates random patches.
The best thing to do is get the user manual for Pentagon I, which is a synth that Cakewalk sells (but you can find the manual without buying the synth).  Square I is just a light version of Pentagon, so a lot of what is in the Pentagon manual will help you with Square I.  I'm 5 1/2 years too late to help the original poster, but maybe someone else will find this on Google.

I recommend getting Triangle (also free). It can do pretty much the same thing and I think its a little better documented.