Zynthian UI User's Guide Appendix - Vangelis

V5 | V4 | Touch

1 Quick Start

Near the bottom of the guide are links to Learning Pills: short video tutorials that show and describe various workflows. These are short, easily digestible snippets of information that can get you started quickly.

As said above, you really should read section 2 on basic concepts to understand basic principals but here is a quick guide to get some sound out of zynthian.

Setup

• Plug audio outputs to amplification / headphones.
• Plug in audio / MIDI inputs. This may include USB MIDI devices.
• Connect power - zynthian should start up and after about 10 seconds, show the mixer view.
• Zynthian remembers its last state and there may be no chains (instruments, audio paths, etc.) shown.

(Optional) Clear the state to start with an empty mixer:

• "Bold press" (press for .3 to 2 seconds) the BACK button to show a big menu of boxes.
• Tap (or use arrow keys and SEL/YES) on the "Clean" button with trash can icon.
• Tap (or use arrow keys and SEL/YES) "Clean All Chains."

• Rotate encoder 4 to highlight "Main" chain.
• Bold press (press then release after 1s) encoder 4 to show Chain Manager view.
• Rotate encoder 3 to highlight "Main" box then short press (press the release within 0.5s) encoder 4 to show main chian options menu.
• Rotate encoder 4 to highlight "Remove All" then short press encoder 4 to select the menu option.
• Confirm operation.

• Tap topbar (left half of black title bar at top of screen) to show Chain Manager view
• Tap touch screen "Main" box to show the main chain options menu.
• Tap "Remove All" option.
• Confirm operation.

Add an instrument chain. In Chain Manager view

• Show the main chain options menu.
• Select "Insert new chain"
• Select "Instrument"
• Use left/right arrow buttons to select an instrument category.Use encoder 3 to select an instrument category.Swipe left/right to select an instrument category.
• Select an instrument from the list.
• Select a MIDI channel
• Select a preset bank (some instruments do not have banks so will not show this menu)
• Select a preset (some instruments do not have presets so will not show this menu)
• The "Control View" for the chain is shown.
• Play the sound from the MIDI controller connected.

For audio processing, follow a similar procedure but select "Audio Input" instead of "Instrument".

2 Basic workflow

2.1 Chain creation

There are short video tutorials demonstrating the creation of chains in the learning pills.

Adding chains is a simple wizard driven workflow. Basic steps are:

• Access Main Menu.
• Select "Add ... Chain", e.g. Add Instrument Chain.
• Select the processor to add. (For some chains you may select "None" which adds an empty chain.)
• For MIDI driven chains, select the MIDI channel for the chain to listen for.
• For processors with banks of presets, select the preset bank.
• For processors with presets, select the preset.

Some processors may have extra configuration steps which are presented as simple menu options during the wizard. You may cancel the operation by using the back button.

2.2 Basic chain manipulation

There are short video tutorials demonstrating the manipulation of chains in the learning pills.

Each chain type may have different configuration options. To configure a chain, access the Chain Options menu then select the required configuration option. These may include:

• Note Range & Transpose - allows the MIDI input to the chain to be filtered (range) and modified (transpose).
• MIDI In - allows the MIDI input devices for a chain to be modified.
• MIDI Channel - allows the MIDI channel that a chain listens to to be changed.
• MIDI CC - allows the MIDI CC that a chain reacts to to be modified.
• MIDI Learn - provides access to MIDI learn / binding manipulation.
• Audio Out - allows the chain's audio output routing to be modified. This is also where you can arm a chain for multitrack audio recording.
• Audio In - allows the chain's audio input routing to be modified.
• Audio Options - allows some additional audio mixer controls (not presented in the mixer view) to be manipulated.
• Processors - allows manipulation of processors within the chain, e.g. moving a processor along the chain.
• Add Processor - allows a processor to be added to the end of a chain. (Audio chains allow the processor to be added before or after the fader.)
• Remove - allows removal of all effects or the whole chain. A confirmation is required.
• Rename chain - allows the chain to be given a user defined name which appears on the mixer view's fader.
• Move chain - allows a chain to be moved horizontally in the mixer view. This is a cosmetic change that has no impact on chain behaviour.

2.3 Layering chains ("clone")

A very common use-case is layering sounds to play unison. (This feature was called "clone" in older versions, but this has changed in Oram and the clone option no longer exists. Now we have better mechanisms because several chains can use the same MIDI channel).

• The easy way
  • If you are using ACTIVE mode for your input device, you must enable Active MIDI channel in the admin menu. With this enabled, all chains with the same MIDI channel will receive the MIDI stream from the input when any of them is selected (active).
  • Setup your "layered" chains with the same MIDI channel.

• The cool way
  • If you are using ACTIVE mode for your input device, you must disable Active MIDI channel in the admin menu. With this disabled, only the selected (active) chain will receive MIDI from the input, no matter the MIDI channel.
  • Setup your ”layered” chains in the same MIDI channel.
  • Create a MIDI+Audio chain with the same MIDI channel. Rename this chain to GROUP (or a name that best suits your workflow). You don’t need to add any processor, so you can select None from the list.
  • From the GROUP chain options, access “MIDI out” and select your “layered” chains. This will route MIDI from the GROUP chain to the layered chains.
  • Finally, access the Audio Out submenu on each "layered" chain: uncheck the Main mixbus and check the GROUP chain. With this you are routing audio from your cloned chains to the GROUP chain, so you can control the mixed audio with the GROUP chain’s fader.

Using the cool way you can select each chain individually and audition its sound or select the GROUP chain to play them all simultaneously / layered. You keep full control of each chain (fader, pan, mono, etc.), being able to insert effects and see each peak meter, and you also have overall control of the GROUP with the same control and monitoring (fader, pan, mono, etc. DPM, effects).

Nice, isn’t it? I really love the cool way, but there is a little problem with it: latency. When you route-back audio from chain’s output to the GROUP chain, you add latency. This is a general rule in digital audio processing: If you feed-back the signal, you delay the processed result by 1-period. Note that the MIDI stream is not delayed because there is no real feed-back and it’s processed linearly.

You don’t have to do both audio and MIDI grouping, as each one works individually. By not doing the audio grouping (e.g. using a MIDI chain rather than a MIDI+Audio chain you will avoid adding the extra period of latency and you still keep some of the advantages of the cool way.

4 Custom Control Views

A selection of plugins are provided with a UI integrated into the Zynthian environment. The main window area will display additional controls and/or graphics specific to the plugin. Superlooper, x42 tuner and AIDA-X are for guitarists while there are utilities like a spectrum analyser and streaming radio player.

4.1 Zynsampler

Zynsampler is the built-in audio sampler in zynthian. It can record and playback a single audio recording at a time. Simple non-destructive editing can be performed. Playback can be looped between markers. The sample may be short or very long (hours). Speed or pitch or both (varispeed) may be adjusted. Playback can be triggered by MIDI. A MIDI note may adjust playback pitch (not speed) or trigger different slices of the waveform.

If the control view of a zynsampler processor (within a chain) is shown then the transport buttons (if available) control that zynsampler processor's record/play functions, otherwise the transport buttons control the global audio recorder/player.

The ZynSampler User Guide gives more detail.

4.2 Sooperlooper

ALT mode

Redefines the short-press functionality of transport, arrows and F1-F4 buttons:

• REC
  • on empty loop: toggles recording in the selected loop
  • on busy loop: toggles overdubbing in the selected loop
• PLAY toggles mute the selected loop
• STOP toggles multiplying the selected loop
• F1 toggles replacing in the selected loop
• F2 toggles substituting in the selected loop
• F3 toggles inserting in the selected loop
• F4 adds a new empty loop
• LEFT undo the last operation in the selected loop
• RIGHT redo the last operation in the selected loop
• UP/DOWN changes the selected loop

4.3 Tuner

The x42 Instrument Tuner with a native GUI for Zynthian and is available in the Audio Chain/Audio Effect/Analyzer.

4.5 Internet Radio

Zynthian has internet streaming radio with a selection of channels available as a chain from the Audio Generator/Other category.

4.6 AIDA-X - High Fidelity Amp Simulator

A guitar amp simulator using machine learning. Parameters are available across 5 pages. Accessible via Audio + Midi Chain/Audio Effect/Simulation. See the AIDA-X page for some links to different model and impulse response files.

5 CUIA: Callable UI Actions

The Zynthian UI can be controlled remotely using a set of commands called CUIA: Callable UI Actions. These CUIAs are available on several interfaces: Key Bindings, MIDI, OSC, etc.

5.1 Key Bindings: Controlling the UI with a computer keyboard

The user interface may be driven using a computer keyboard (QWERTY, Dvorak, etc.). Key assignment map can be consulted and configured from the webconf tool:

Interface->UI Key Binding

Zynthian has default keybinding for a standard (UK) QWERTY keyboard that maps logically to V4 encoders:

   ‘<’ (actually ‘,’) represents counter-clockwise encoder rotation.
   ‘>’ (actually ‘.’) represents clockwise encoder rotation.
   Without any modifiers these operate on encoder 4 (bottom right on V4).
   Adding ‘Ctrl’ modifier will operate on left encoders on V4.
   Adding 'Shift will operate on the top encoders on V4.
   The four keys (in a square) above these operate as the push switches:
   ‘i’ is switch 1 (top left).
   ‘k’ is switch 2 (bottom left).
   ‘o’ is switch 3 (top right).
   ‘l’ is switch 4 (bottom right).

Of course this mapping makes sense on keyboards that have those button grouped in the bottom right of the keyboard and for users familiar with V4 layout but they do work well.

5.2 Controlling the UI with MIDI messages

CUIA may be triggered by MIDI messages on the Master Channel (disabled by default, but configurable with the webconf tool), specifically, note-on messages (0x9) are used so you can use a MIDI keyboard for controlling the Zynthian UI. For instance, to Power Off the Zynthian, you send this message:

0x9F  (Channel 16 Note ON) 
0x00  (Note code for POWER_OFF as below)
0x00  (Velocity / parameter)

or play the C-0 key, if your keyboard has it.

Please, note that you can use the velocity for sending the first CUIA parameter when it's required by the action (for instance, SELECT or CHAIN_CONTROL).

You can check the map of MIDI-CUIA actions in the webconf tool:

Interface->MIDI-options->Master Key Actions

From there, you can also reconfigure the map to better suit your needs.

For a detailed list of available CUIAs, check this section.

5.3 Controlling the UI with OSC (Open Sound Control) messages

CUIA may be triggered using OSC (Open Sound Control protocol) on UDP port 1370, with the path prefix "/cuia", e.g. "/cuia/reboot". Take a look at "Calling CUIA with OSC".

Also see Open Sound Control at Wikipedia and this explanatory video for more information about the protocol.

6 Software Version

By default, zynthian runs the stable release, oram-2409. Any stable point releases are advertised in the user interfaces with the green circle-arrow icon showing in the top right. Updates may be applied by selecting Update Software in the admin menu or selecting the SOFTWARE->Update option in webconf, then pressing the Update Software button.

There are four options for selecting which version of zynthian to run. The selection is made in webconf's SOFTWARE->Version page:

6.1 Stable (oram-2506)

Selecting this version will configure zynthian to run the most stable version of the software. Updates are infrequent and extensively tested. This is the default version and is recommended for production use. Only point releases appear in this software channel. A point release is a stable version, e.g. oram-24090.1 is the firsts stable update after the release of oram-2409.

After selecting this option, select 'Software Update' to apply changes.

6.2 Staging (oram)

Selecting this version will configure zynthian to run the staging version which is used as a pre-release test version. The staging version should work with minimal issues but is not fully tested. It is recommended to use this if you want to act as a zynthian tester, testing new features and bug fixes ahead of the next point release.

After selecting this option, select 'Software Update' to apply changes.

6.3 Testing (vangelis)

Selecting this version will configure zynthian to run the testing version which is used as the main development version. The testing version is under continual development and will change frequently, sometimes breaking or with substantial workflow changes. It is recommended to use this only if you are a developer or wish to contribute to testing bleeding edge development. The Testing version is generally maintained in a working stage so it should work most of the time.

After selecting this option, select 'Software Update' to apply changes.

6.4 Custom

Selecting the Custom option will, after a few seconds, allow individual selection of each software repository. This provides granular control of the software configuration. Each list contains the stable version, stable point releases, testing version and all development branches. There are two main use cases for selecting custom:

• Freezing the software at a specific point release - selecting a point release for each of the repositories will freeze the software at that version and no updates will be advertised in the user interface.
• Testing bleeding edge development - a new feature may be developed in a specific development branch which may need to be selected to allow testing. It is highly recommended to avoid using this option unless you have a clear understanding of why it may be necessary, e.g. instructed to do so by a core developer.

After selecting this option, select 'Save' and then 'Software Update' to apply changes.

7 Learning Pills

7.1 Create tutorial clips with zynthian

If you like zynthian and you would like to contribute, please, help us to improve zynthian documentation by creating small video clips with your favorite workflows and tricks. It's easier than you think:

How to create a tutorial clip with zynthian, by @gitnob

7.2 Basics

• Creating Instruments and Selecting Presets (workflow capture)
• Audio Mixer (workflow capture)
• Creating a synth chain and adding a MIDI chorder + audio FXs (tutorial - OLD VERSION)
• Creating a synth chain (workflow capture - OLD VERSION)
• Creating another synth chain (alternate workflow capture - OLD VERSION)
• Banks & Presets
• Chain Control
• Chain Options
• Chain FXs
• MIDI-learning: sound engine parameters
• MIDI-learning: audio mixer
• MIDI-learning: ZS3s (Zynthian SubSnapShots)
• Audio Recording
• MIDI Recording

7.3 Sequencer

• Pattern Editor: Creating & Editing patterns
• ZynPad: Launching patterns
• Audio Player: Loops & One-shots
• Arranger: Linear composing

7.4 Mini-HowTos

• MIDI Clone: Make 2 chains to play unison
• Arppeggiator & Chorder
• SooperLooper: Live audio looping

7.5 Contribute your workflow captures

This collection of workflow animations have been recorded with the "capture workflow" option from UI's admin menu and subtitled later with the webconf tool:

library->captures->log

With these tools, you can also capture, subtitle and share your favorite workflows, helping others to learn and contribute to improve zynthian documentation. If you do so, please, share your workflows in the forum:

https://discourse.zynthian.org

Workflow log files in webconf library capture

Pressing on a specific workflow logfile brings up the mockup dialog...

Workflow Mockup in Webconf

And then you get the full brilliance of the workflow display... These run on the forum too!!

The Workflow player