Poise Percussion Sampler

Manual
Updated 7th January 2012

Poise Percussion Sampler

Manual
Contents
Installation
Overview
Main Menu
Using Fixed Output Configurations of Poise
Options Menu
The Browser
The Drum Pads
Drum Pad Context Menu
Drum Pad Controls
The Sample Display
Sample Layer Menu
Sample Layer Controls
Amplitude Envelope:
Pitch Envelope:
Offset:
Pitch:
Vol:
Bal:
Sample Layer Modes
Single:
Velocity:
Round-Robin:
Random:
Layer Tight:
Layer Loose:
Sample Velocity Ranges
Modulation Controls
Voice and Play Modes
Voice Mode:
Play Mode:
Trigger Maps
Advanced Trigger Map Editing
Example
Valid property values
MIDI Automation
Options
Hot Keys

Installation
1. Locate your VST plugin directory.
2. Extract the contents of 'Poise.zip' archive into a new folder in your VST plugin directory.
Poise needs its own folder as it uses several support files.

Overview

Main Menu

Trigger Map: Trigger maps control what MIDI notes each drum pad responds to. Trigger
maps can be saved and restored so Poise can quickly be adapted for use in different
configurations. (For more information see the 'Trigger Map' section)
Outputs: Poise can use up to 16 stereo outputs. This feature is host dependent and not
all hosts support changing the output configuration dynamically.
Pad View: The drum pads can show either the name of the drum pad or the MIDI note
which triggers it.
Select pad with with MIDI notes: When this option is enabled, drum pads will
automatically be selected when triggered. This option is useful when editing Poise in
conjunction with a MIDI controller.

Using Fixed Output Configurations of Poise

Most hosts support VST plugins changing there output configuration. If your host doesn't. You
will need to use the fixed-output version of Poise.
To enable the fixed-output behaviour the "Poise.dll" file needs to be renamed.
"Poise.dll" - Multi-outputs.
"Poise 1 Out.dll" - One stereo output.
"Poise 4 Out.dll" - Four stereo outputs.
...
"Poise 16 Out.dll" - Sixteen stereo outputs.
1 to 16 fixed stereo outputs are supported in this way. When renaming the Poise.dll file take
care to ensure the correct number of spaces and capitalisation otherwise your host may have
problems recognising the correct dll file to use when loading saved projects.

Options Menu

Skin: Selects a skin for Poise to use. (More skins can be downloaded from the One
Small Clue website)
Options: Shows the options dialog.
About: Shows the about box with credits and Poise version number.

The Browser

Right click the browser to access the browser context menu.

Slice and Import Loop: Loops (and other samples) will automatically be sliced and sent
to each drum pad. The slicing algorithm is fully automatic and uses beat detection to find
slice points.
Font Size: For those of us with less then 20/20 vision, the browser font size can be made
a little larger.
Folders: Opens the options dialog on the 'Sample Folders' page.
TIP: The arrow keys can be used to navigate the browser. If it doesn't work, check hot keys are
enabled in the Options dialog.

The Drum Pads

Poise has 16 Drum Pads. Each Drum Pad can load up to 8 samples. Each Drum Pad is
triggered by one or more MIDI notes.
TIP: Select multiple drum pads by shift-clicking, or by clicking and dragging over several pads.
When multiple pads are selected, parameter changes will be applied to all selected pads, and
all sample layers of those pads.
TIP: Multiple drum pads can be selected using Shift + Click or by clicking and dragging over
several pads. When Multiple drum pads are simultaneously selected parameter changes are
applied to all pads and all sample layers!
TIP: Drum pads can be copied or swapped by holding 'Ctrl' or 'Alt' keys while dragging and
dropping.

Drum Pad Context Menu

Reset Pad: Clear drum pad data.

Rename Pad: As the menu item suggests.
Render Pad: This function re-samples the drum pad with all settings applied. (Amplitude
envelope, pitch envelope, effect settings, etc.) Pads with multiple sample layers will be
mixed down to a single layer. After rendering the sample data only exists in RAM. It is
not saved as a file to your computer hard drive. Use the Save Drum Kit + Samples In
Folder... to save all rendered samples to disk.
Learn Trigger Notes: Changes the MIDI note each Drum Pad is bound to. Trigger maps
can be saved to allow custom configurations to quickly be recalled when needed.
Clear Trigger Note: Remove the trigger note binding. Useful if your MIDI controller has
less then 16 triggers.
Import Cell / Export Cell: Use to save all data for a single drum pad. The sample data will
be saved into the 'cell' file, so sample files do not need to be included.
Voice Mode:
MONO: Consecutive samples don't overlap. Active samples are muted.
POLY: Consecutive samples are allowed overlap.
Play Mode: Each Drum Pad has a 'Play Mode' setting to change the way samples are
played back. For more information see the 'Play Modes' section.
Pad Link: Linked drum pads will trigger together. This is useful when creating layered
drum sounds.
Pad Lock: Locked drum pads will be skipped when loading drum kits. This provides an
easy way to combine drum kits.

Drum Pad Controls

Cut / Cut By: Poise features 8 Cut Groups.When a pad assigned to a 'Cut' group is
triggered, any pads assigned to the corresponding 'Cut By' group will be silenced. Cut
groups are often used with hi hat samples.
Output: Poise has up to 16 individual stereo outputs. The output control selects which
output the pad should use.
Pitch: Adjusts the pitch of the drum pad. (+/- 12 semitones)
Vol: Pad volume.
Bal: Pad balance.
Pad Effect Controls: Each Drum Pad has a dedicated effect. Click on the button
(Labeled 'None' in the image) to choose an effect. The exact role of the two FX
Parameter knobs is dictated by the assigned effect.

The Sample Display

The sample display shows the waveform of the current sample layer, envelope graphics,
sample layer icons and current layer mode.
Multiple sample layers can be selected at once for quick editing. [SHIFT + CLICK]
A sample layer can be moved to another pad by dragging the sample layer icon to a
different pad. (Be careful not to select additional layers while dragging.)
Samples can be dragged to other applications by holding [CTRL + ALT].
Samples can be reordered by [ALT + DRAG & DROP]

Sample Layer Menu

Right click a sample layer icon to show the sample context menu.
Normalise: Use to normalise a sample to 0dB. This operation is non-destructive and can
be undone. (Select Normalise again to undo.)
Phase Flip: Invert the phase of a sample useful for fixing phase issues when layering
samples.
Reverse: Samples can be reversed. Often reveals sonic gold!
Delete Layer: Removes the sample. Doesn't delete sample from the hard drive.
Duplicate Layer: Can be useful for multi-sample trickery.
Reload Samples: Force the sample to be reloaded. Useful after editing the sample in an
external application.
Show: Shows the sample using Windows Explorer.
Edit with...: If you have defined any sample editors, the 'Edit with...' options can be used
to open your sample editor with the specified sample editor.
MIDI Learn / MIDI Unlearn: Options for learning MIDI CC for sample scroll/Zoom/start
point/end point.

Sample Layer Controls

The sample layer controls modify individual sample layers.

Parameter changes will be applied to all selected layers, on all selected pads.

Amplitude Envelope:
There are two amplitude envelope types. The envelope type can be changed by clicking the
envelope label.
AHDR (Attack, Hold, Decay, Release)
ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release)
The amplitude envelope is very useful when layering samples. For example the attack and tail
portion of different samples can be isolated then blended together.

Pitch Envelope:
The pitch envelope is a 3 point envelope. The last point is set and can not be edited.
L1: Level 1. The initial sample pitch shift amount.
T1: Time 1. Time taken to travel to the second envelope point.
L2: Level 2. The second sample pitch shift amount.
T2: Time 2. Time taken for the pitch envelope to finish.
The pitch envelope can be used to drastically change the character of a drum sample. A quick
pitch shift at the beginning of a sample will create a 'snappy' effect.

Offset:
The offset control delays the onset of a sample when the pad is triggered.
The offset control is useful for creating flams.

Pitch:
Adjusts the pitch of the sample layer. (+/- 12 semitones)

Vol:

Sample layer volume.

Bal:
Sample layer balance.

Sample Layer Modes

Each drum pad has a 'Sample Layer Mode' parameter. It determines which sample layers are
played when a drum pad is triggered.
Click the 'Sample Layer Mode' button to show the layer mode menu. (Shown highlighted in
image)

Single:
This is the simplest mode. When a drum pad is triggered, only the selected sample will play.
The selected sample layer is shown by the highlighted layer index.

Velocity:
Using 'Velocity' mode, a single sample layer is triggered according to the MIDI note velocity.

The velocity ranges for each sample can be edited. (Click layer mode button and choose 'Edit
Velocity Ranges')

Round-Robin:
The next sample layer will be played each time the drum pad is triggered.

Random:
A random sample layer will be played each time the drum pad is triggered.

Layer Tight:
All sample layers will be played. The humanisation settings are calculated once and used for all
sample layers.
This is usually the preferred mode to use when layering multiple samples to form the sound of a
single drum tone.

Layer Loose:
All sample layers will be played. This mode differs from 'Layer Tight' in that the humanisation
settings are calculated for each sample individually.
This layer mode is useful when using multiple samples to create a chorus of sounds as each
sample can potentially be slightly different from the others.
TIP: The Humanisation settings are found on the 'Mod' controls panel. The humanisation
settings allow each sample to have it's pitch, volume or offset parameters to be adjusted by a
small random amount each time a drum pad is triggered.
NOTE: Velocity ranges of individual layers can be edited for all sample modes except 'Single'.
The combination of editable velocity ranges, layer modes and linked pads allows for much
flexibility when layering samples.

Sample Velocity Ranges

Access the velocity range edit page by selecting 'Edit Velocity Ranges' in the sample layer
mode menu.
Each sample layer has a velocity range. The velocity ranges work in conjunction with layer
modes and can be used to program velocity splits.

Modulation Controls

The modulation controls are accessed by click the 'Mod' button in the lower left of the GUI.
The 'Velocity Amount' controls allow the drum pad to respond to varying MIDI velocity levels.
Amp: Velocity to drum pad level.
FX P.1: Velocity to effect parameter one.
FX P.2: Velocity to effect parameter two.
TIP: Snare drums can sound more natural when using a low pass filter with the cutoff modulated
by velocity amount.
The 'Humanise' controls allow a small amount of randomisation to be introduced each time
a drum pad is triggered. A small amount of randomisation can help reduce the robotic feel of
programmed drum beats.
Vel: Maximum amount to randomise the trigger velocity.
Time: Maximum time to delay the sample onset.
Pitch: Maximum amount to randomise sample pitch.

Voice and Play Modes

Voice Mode:
The voice mode option is in the drum pad context menu. [Right-click a drum pad]
MONO:When a pad is re-triggered, active sample layers will be silenced so that the
sound does not overlap.
POLY:When a pad is re-triggered, active sample layers will continue to play, allowing the
sounds to overlap.

Play Mode:
The play mode option [Right-click a drum pad] controls how a drum pad responds to MIDI noteoff events.
NOTE ON: Using the 'Note On' mode a drum pad will play until it recieves a MIDI noteoff event. If the amplitude envelope is off, the pad will be silenced immediately. If the
amplitude envelope is on it will begin the release stage.
ONE SHOT: Using the 'One Shot' mode a drum pad will play all the way through,
ignoring any MIDI note-off events.
TIP: Some MIDI drum pad contollers send very short MIDI notes. (The NOTE ON will be
followed very closely by the NOTE OFF.) If you are using one of these MIDI drum pad
controllers, you may have better results using ONE SHOT mode for all drum pads.

Trigger Maps
A trigger map contains 'region' information for each drum pad. In other words it controls what
MIDI notes trigger which drum pad.
The simplest way to create a new trigger map is to use the 'Learn All Trigger Notes' command.
1. Activate trigger note learn. [Drum Pad context menu -> Learn Trigger Notes]
2. Select a drum pad using the mouse.
3. Press a key or pad on your MIDI controller.
4. The drum pad will now be bound to that key. Repeat steps 2&3 until all drum pad
triggers have been assigned.
5. Exit trigger learn mode by clicking on the 'Exit' button in the sample display.
Trigger maps can be useful when using Poise in different circumstances. For example: because
Poise only has 16 drum pads, a second trigger map with the MIDI trigger notes shifted 16 notes
higher can be used to setup a second instance quickly.
TIP: It can beneficial to use a limited number of trigger maps with clearly defined names and
usages. Using the same trigger maps consistently will reinforce the links between your MIDI
controller, sequencer and Poise. It's all about muscle memory.

Advanced Trigger Map Editing

By default, all drum pads respond to a single MIDI note. This is standard behaviour for drum
samplers and makes Poise easy to use.
Internally Poise is more flexible. Each drum pad has region settings.
A region has:
a Channel property.
a Low Note property.
a High Note property.
a Root Note property.
Region settings are interesting because they allow Poise to be customised to do a few special
things. For example a drum pad can be configured to respond to multiple notes so that pitched
sequences can be played. This would be useful with tom samples. Alternatively Poise can be
used as a regular multi-timbral sampler, albeit a simple one.
The region settings can only be modified when editing trigger maps by hand (using any text
editor).

Example
[Pad_4]
Channel=127
LowNote=39
HighNote=39
RootNote=39
In this example, Pad four will be triggered by D#1 (or MIDI note 39).

Valid property values

Channel:
1 to 16.
128 for OMNI (respond to all MIDI channels)
LowNote: 0 to 127
HighNote: 0 to 127
RootNote: 0 to 127 (may be smaller or larger than the LowNote or HighNote)

MIDI Automation

MIDI automation in Poise is optimised for real time editing. MIDI automation is always applied to
the currently selected pad/pads.
Right click a knob to show the MIDI Learn context menu.
The MIDI Learn menu shows the current MIDI binding (as shown in the image to the
left).

Options

General Options:
Enable hot keys: Hot keys can be disabled if they don't work correctly in your host.
One click triggers pad: Selecting a drum pad with the mouse will also trigger it.
Normalise samples on load: Automatically normalise sample gain when loading
samples.
Browser visible by default: When enabled, the browser will be visible when the GUI is
first opened.
Enable MIDI thru: If enabled, Poise will pass any MIDI input through to the next plugin
in the signal chain.
Default number of outputs: Number of stereo outputs Poise begins with when loaded.
Embed Samples In Project File: Control when Poise saves sample data into the
project file.
Sample Directories Tab: Add directories to Poises browser. Directory paths that do not exist
will be ignored.
Drum Kit Directories: Add directories to Poises browser. Directory paths that do not exist will
be ignored.
Sample Editors: Poise supports linking to multiple sample editors. Samples can be opened in
your editor of choice by the 'Edit with...' command in the sample layer context menu.
TIP: Wavosaur is a reliable and free/donation ware sample editor. For more information:
www.wavosaur.com

Hot Keys

F2: Rename all selected drum pads.

F5: Show/hide the browser.
F6: Toggle sample preview on/off.
F7: Toggle auto pad select on/off. When on, MIDI input will change the pad selected.
Arrow Keys: Use to navigate the browser. When the browser is closed, they can be used
to change the selected drum pad.
Enter/Return: Load selected items in browser to the current drum pad.
End: Trigger the selected drum pad.
A,S,W,D: Change the selected drum pad.
Delete:
After loading some samples, delete will remove newly loaded samples.
After selecting a drum pad, delete will reset the pad.
After selecting a cell layer, delete will remove any selected layers.
Tab: Change the sample layer mode for all selected pads.
Ctrl-A: Select / de-select all drum pads.
Ctrl-X/C/V: Cut/Copy/Paste
1-8: Select sample layer.
1-8 + Shift: Multi-select sample layer.
Hot key support has been tested in these hosts.
Ableton Live 8
Cubase 5
EnergyXT 1.4
EnergyXT 2.5
FL Studio 9
Podium 2
Reaper 3
Not all VST plugin hosts send key press information to VST plugins. It is not a required part of
the VST protocol. To bypass this limitation Poise uses a low level keyboard hook to monitor key
presses. As such there can be issues with hot key support. If you notice any problems please
contact support.

Document History
7th January 2012
- Added Document History section
- Several grammatical corrections.