but when i loop something in the default soundset, it doesn't affect it at all. :\
Also, it didn't work. i had Vol Env. hold set to .5 and decay set to .1; same for Mod Env. Mod Env. and Vol Env. Key hold and decay were set to 1. (Env. is Envelope for short) I set the Vol. Env Sustain to -96.
I also wonder why his only happens when the presents are copy-pasted from another soundfont, where it has multiple layers.
Anyone know how to
remove a loop?
To answer all your questions:
1) The original soundfont does not loop because it does not have start and end loop points set up on the samples. To do this you need to open an instrument and you would have to and pick a sample from the the tree list for that instrument. On the sample editing page with the graph of the sample, you left click on the graph for start point, right click for end point. To hear it loop, in the sound box, click the red and blue arrow button next to the play button then hit play. It will probably take considerable amounts of time to find a good loop especially with the original set. If you decide to, you will need to find a loop range for each sample in each instrument that will be in your playable range on MPC. I created some sample loops for the original set to verify this, and they do indeed loop endlessly, though they suck.
2) There are some important things to note about the envelope editing. There are basically 6 volume envelope parameters that control the length of your note. Vol Delay, Vol Attack, Vol Hold, Vol Decay, and Vol Release. In case you do not know the function of each, I will elaborate on them.
Vol Delay - amount of time a sound sample will set at 0 db before making a sound. Utilizing this parameter is one way to get over the 5 instrument barrier, by placing a note basically wherever you want and making the sound come out at a desired time you wish in relation to the BPM.
Vol Attack - After the delay is processed the sound will then go through time of attack to the max volume. This is basically your crescendo for each instrument. If there is no attack time, an instrument will jump directly to max volume from either point 0 or after Vol delay time is processed.
Vol Hold - After the attack is processed, this is the amount of time that the sound will hold at max volume. This is important for length of notes.
Vol Decay - After hold time is processed, the sound will enter time of decay which is the amount of time that the sound takes to attenuate to the Env Sustain level. This in effect is your time of decrescendo.
Vol Sustain - This is the db level that you decay to.
Vol Release - After the note is released (in MPC this is when sound is stopped by low A glitch or another note of the same instrument changes the sound) there is a time of release which is accompanied by a natrual decay. This is good for making sounds blend together on the same instrument. For example, if you have ever heard a piano or a harp run and it sounds choppy on MPC in between notes, is probably because there is no defined release or it is not high enough.
The order in which these are listed is the hierarchy of the times are processed.
What are you doing wrong? These are the probable answers.
1) There are 2 places to edit these values, one is on the preset level, the other is on the instrument level. DO NOT edit on the preset level it is more complicated. If you notice the table is slightly different. On the instrument level for the volume envelopes the units for time envelopes is in the units seconds (s). On the preset level they are a derivative (X) of the instrument level settings. For example, on the preset level, if you have no attack time in the instrument level (blank field). You have to enter 1000 for the envelope to attack 1 second. Not what you were expecting right? and possibly why you noticed no difference.
2) Sample (layer) settings override global settings at instrument level. For example, if have 8 samples that make up an instrument, and you have the c5 sample releasing at 10 seconds, and the global at 2 seconds, the c5 sample area of the keyboard will release at 10 seconds. If the other sample release rates are blank they will release at the global 2 seconds.
3) You can not hold a note past its natural sample time unless the sample is looping. In other words, you can't just hold a Mario head going "beep" for half of a second and make it longer. The time variables you place in vol envelopes will only activate for the length of the time of natural sample recording time unless you are looping. So to get a instrument to hold for 10 seconds in a sample that was recorded for 1 second, you must have good loop points defined that make the sound loop seamlessly, then cut it off manually in the sound envelopes.
That is great and all, but how do you apply these principals to get the desired affect?
1) Most important, you must be working with samples that have a proper loop set up. Gameboys on either MPC Orchestra Sf2 can be used for practice.
2) For the volume envelopes on the PRESET level. delete everything you see, globally, and on each layer.
3) Double click the instruments in the preset layer expandable tree to automatically open the instrument used in the preset.
4) At the INSTRUMENT level volume envelopes. Delete everthing you see, even for the sample layers. You should now have a clean slate for the volume envelopes at both the preset and instrument levels.
5) Still in the INSTRUMENT level, if your sample is not looping you need it to set it to loop at the global level. This is done in the 5th field right beneath pan. Value =1 is loop. Blank field is no loop. Value =0 is no loop. If the fields are blank for the sample layers, and you enter 1 in the global, all sample layers will loop, if you have a loop defined. BUT as I noted above, if there is DATA in a field at a layer level, it will OVERWRITE the global setting. So even though blank field and 0 have the same effect for looping, if you have a 0 in the fields of your sample layers and then you have a 1 in the global, the samples that are set to 0 will not loop.
6) Now you just need to add your delay time (in seconds (s)) in the global volume envelope (probably won't use this), the attack time for crescendo, the hold time for how long the note will hold at max volume (or sustain, if you have a seamless loop setup), the decay for how long it takes attenuate to the sustain db level, the sustain db level itself which you would enter 100 for a note cutoff, and the time of release. Add all the fields that have (s) that have values and that is the length of your note.
My recommendations:
Play around a lot until you find what you like. But, for a normal cutoff do not use blank field for decay envelope or value less than one. One is the perfect value for a nice round cutoff. Also, release values between 1 and 2 seconds are good for almost every instrument. For something that needs fluidity 2 seconds plus.
Lastly, if you are going to edit an instrument level, copy it and rename it to what the preset is going to be, then make a preset out of that instrument. It is possible that other presets use some same instruments in which all presets would be affected by your changes.
Sorry for the mammoth post, but this is not easy subject to explain in few words. Also, I have only been fooling around with Viena for a month and I learned all of these observations by trial and error, so don't take everything I say to be fact. I am sure there are probably easier ways to do some of the things I am doing.
Cypher