SynthMaster Player User Manual 1

SynthMaster Player User Manual

Version 2.9.6

Written By

Bülent Bıyıkoğlu
SynthMaster Player User Manual 2

Credits

Programming, Concept,
Design & Documentation : Bulent Biyikoglu
User Interface Development: Salvatore Zummo
Bülent Bıyıkoğlu

Factory Wavetables: Galbanum

User wavetables: Compiled with permission from public archive

Factory Presets (v2.7) BluffMonkey

Gercek Dorman
Nori Ubukata
Rob Lee
Ufuk Kevser
Vorpal Sound
Vandalism

Factory Presets (v2.5/2.6): BigTone

Frank “Xenox” Neumann
Nori Ubukata
Rob Lee
Sami Rabia
Teoman Pasinlioglu
Umit “Insigna” Uy
Xenos Soundworks
Ufuk Kevser

Beta Testing: Sound designers, KVRAudio.com forum users

AU Version of SynthMaster is built using Symbiosis by NuEdge Development.

XML processing is done by using TinyXML
HTTP/FTP processing is done by using LibCurl

Copyright © 2007-2017 KV331 Audio. All rights reserved.

This guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part

without the express written consent of KV331 Audio.

SynthMaster is a trademark of KV331 Audio.

ASIO, VST, VSTGUI are trademarks of Steinberg.
AU is a trademark of Apple Corporation.
RTAS, AAX are trademarks of Avid Corporation

All other trademarks contained herein are the

property of their respective owners.

Product features, specifications, system requirements,

and availability are subject to change without notice.
SynthMaster Player User Manual 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SynthMaster Player User Manual .....................................................................................................1
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................4
System Requirements ................................................................................................................................ 4
Download Links for SynthMaster Player FREE ......................................................................................... 4
Download Links for SynthMaster Player .................................................................................................... 4
Forgot Your Serial Number? ...................................................................................................................... 5
Installing Latest Version ............................................................................................................................. 5
Changing Data Folder ................................................................................................................................ 6
Getting Started with SynthMaster Player .........................................................................................7
Browsing Presets ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Controlling the Browser from your MIDI Controller .................................................................................... 9
Viewing and Downloading Purchased Preset Banks ............................................................................... 10
Adding Presets to Your Favorites List ..................................................................................................... 13
Assigning the “Default” Preset ................................................................................................................. 13
Loading a Preset from Your Favorites List .............................................................................................. 13
Importing Preset Banks Into SynthMaster ............................................................................................... 13
Assigning Easy Knobs to MIDI Controllers (MIDI Learn) ......................................................................... 15
Editing Preset Parameters ....................................................................................................................... 15
Easy Parameters .................................................................................................................................. 15
Layer Insert Effects .............................................................................................................................. 16
Global Insert Effects ............................................................................................................................. 16
Preset Polyphony ................................................................................................................................. 16
Global/Preset Engine Buffer Size ......................................................................................................... 16
Global/Preset Engine Quality ............................................................................................................... 16
Global/Preset Scale.............................................................................................................................. 17
Global/Preset Skin................................................................................................................................ 17
Changing Current Skin Globally............................................................................................................... 18
Changing Current Skin for the Current Preset ......................................................................................... 19
SynthMaster Player User Manual 4

Introduction
System Requirements
SynthMaster Player comes in the following formats:

Format System Requirements DAW Requirements

Windows 7 and above
VST Instrument & Effect MacOSX 10.7 and above VST Host supporting VST 2.4 plugins
2 GB RAM, 2 GHz CPU
MacOSX 10.7 and above AU Host application such as Logic,
AU Instrument & Effect
2 GB RAM, 2 GHz CPU GarageBand.
Windows 7 and above
32 bit: ProTools 10.3.6 and above
AAX Instrument MacOSX 10.7 and above
64 bit: ProTools 11 and above
2 GB RAM, 2 GHz CPU

Windows 7 and above ASIO compatible sound card or

Standalone
2 GB RAM, 2 GHZ CPU ASIO4ALL installed on your system

Download Links for SynthMaster Player FREE

SynthMaster 2.9 Player FREE installer can be downloaded at:

 Windows-32 bits: http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=83

 Windows-64 bits: http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=84
 Mac OSX (32/64bits): http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=85

This installer contains the latest binaries and all the data files necessary to install SynthMaster 2.9 Player
FREE

Download Links for SynthMaster Player

SynthMaster 2.9 Player FREE installer can be downloaded at:

 Windows-32 bits: http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=81

 Windows-64 bits: http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=82
 Mac OSX (32/64bits): http://www.kv331audio.com/DownloadFile.aspx?fileID=86

This installer contains the latest binaries and all the data files necessary to install SynthMaster 2.9 Player.

To start your download for SynthMaster Player you should enter your registered email address and serial
number:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 5

Forgot Your Serial Number?

If you forgot your serial number, it is very easy to retrieve it. Just go to
http://www.kv331audio.com/requestlicensefile.aspx

enter your registered email address, and that’s it. You’ll receive your serial number plus the above
download links in a couple of minutes!

Installing Latest Version

Once you download the zip archive containing SynthMaster 2.6 Player setup files, simply extract its
contents to a temporary location and run the setup application: (SynthMaster26PlayerSetup.exe on
Windows, SynthMaster26PlayerSetup.pkg on MacOSX)

By default, SynthMaster will be installed under the following directories:

 Windows: C:\Program Files\Vstplugins\SynthMaster Player

 MacOSX: /Library/Application Support/KV331 Audio/SynthMaster Player

On MacOSX, you might get the following warning message after you install SynthMaster Player, and run
your DAW application:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 6

In that case, please copy the following files manually:

 SynthMasterLicenseKey.txt to -> /Library/Application Support/KV331 Audio/SynthMaster

Player
 SynthMasterPlayer.component to -> /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components
 SynthMasterPlayer.vst to -> /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
 SynthMasterPlayer.dpm to -> /Library/Application Support/Digidesign/DAE/Plug-Ins

Changing Data Folder

If you want to place SynthMaster Player data files in a different folder, there is an easy way to do that:

 Copy all SynthMaster folder/files except SynthMaster2.dll, SynthMaster2FX.dll and

SynthMasterPlayerFolders.txt into the new folder
 Open up the SythMasterPlayerFolders.txt file using a text editor, and change the following
line:
RootFolder=<new folder path goes here>
 Then save the SynthMasterPlayerFolder.txt file and you’re done!
SynthMaster Player User Manual 7

Getting Started with SynthMaster Player

Now that we you’ve installed SynthMaster Player, it’s time to explore it!

Let’s start by instantiating a SynthMaster Player instance in our DAW application:

SynthMaster Player opens up with its default “Player Skin”. One of the unique features of SynthMaster is
that it support multiple skins. You can even edit the skins that come with SynthMaster Player and
customize your own skins, with the Interface Editor that comes with SynthMaster (just download and
install SynthMaster DEMO for that 

:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 8

Browsing Presets
SynthMaster Player comes with a comprehensive preset library, with 800 presets to start with (the free
version has only 200):

When you select a preset from the list, it is loaded from disk, and its 12 easy parameters and insert effects
are displayed. You can tweak the easy parameters right from the browser or using you MIDI controller’s
knob/sliders that are globally linked to the easy parameters.

The presets can be filtered by

 Instrument Type
 Attributes
 Music Style
 Preset Author
 Bank Name

For instance, if you want to see all Mono Bass Factory presets for Electro music style created by Aiyn
Zahev, click on Bass, Mono, Electro, Aiyn Zahev and then Factory Presets:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 9

To load a preset on the list: click on it:

To go to the next preset on the list: click on the arrow, or press the “Down” key on your keyboard.

To go to the previous preset on the list: click on the arrow, or press the “Up” key on your keyboard.

To scroll down the list: move your mouse wheel down (when mouse is over the presets list)

To scroll up the list: move your mouse wheel up (when mouse is over the presets list)

To search for a preset by name: type the text into the search textbox and press
enter or click on the Search button. The matching presets will be displayed on the list:

Controlling the Browser from your MIDI Controller

It is possible in SynthMaster Player to control the preset browser from your MIDI controller, by sending
MIDI CC messages. You can assign buttons on your controller for scrolling up/down

 Instrument type
 Music style
 Preset Author
 Presets

To link a button to a list, move your mouse over the list, and then click on the right mouse button. The
popup menu will show up with 2 selections: Prev and Next

After you select one of the menu items, press the button on your MIDI controller to send the MIDI CC
message, SynthMaster Player will learn the button and establish the link between the button and the
browser function. SynthMaster Player saves this link in its configuration file, so you have to do this linking
only once.
SynthMaster Player User Manual 10

Viewing and Downloading Purchased Preset Banks

On top of the preset banks list, there are 3 buttons:

 Installed: When you press this button, preset banks installed on your computer are listed:

 Purchased: When you press this button, all preset banks you purchased (but not installed yet) are
listed:

When you click on a preset bank name, the bank details are shown. To download and install the
bank, just click on the Download button. SynthMaster will download and install the bank behind
the scenes. This of course requires your computer to be online:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 11

 Show All: When you press this button, all products from KV331 Audio are listed. By clicking on a
product name, you can see the product’s details such as Price, Release Date, Tags, Description
and Audio Demos:

By clicking on the Buy Now button, you can purchase the selected bank from our web site:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 12

When your purchase is complete, switch back to the Purchased products list, right click, and
select “Refresh my licenses” menu:

SynthMaster will detect the recently purchased preset banks and ask you to download them:

When the download is complete, SynthMaster will install the bank(s), and the bank(s) will be
available under installed preset banks list:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 13

Adding Presets to Your Favorites List

It is possible to mark the presets you like as ‘favourites’ so that you can easily load them again in your
sessions. To add a preset to your ‘favourites’ list:

 Click on the preset

name to choose
the preset
 Right click on the
preset name to
bring up the
dropdown menu
 Choose “Add to
Favourites”

Assigning the “Default” Preset

“Default” preset is the preset that is loaded when a new instance of SynthMaster Player is created. To
assign a preset as the “default” preset:

 Click on the preset

name to choose
the preset
 Right click on the
preset name to
bring up the
dropdown menu
 Choose “Set As
Default Preset”

Loading a Preset from Your Favorites List

Once you assign your favourite presets, you can

load them back by right clicking on the current
preset name (displayed on the top header) and
then choosing a preset listed under the “Load
Favourite: “ category.

Importing Preset Banks Into SynthMaster

SynthMaster Player and Player FREE allows you to use the preset banks released by KV331 Audio. If you
purchase preset banks from our website , you will notice that most of them require manual installation
(expect the ones that come with their own installers).

Starting with version 2.6.15, we’ve made it very easy to import those banks into SynthMaster Player:

1. Move your mouse under the Bank list and right click. Popup menu will show up. Select Import
preset bank(s) menu item:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 14

2. Directory browser dialog will open up. Browse to the folder where you extracted the zip file that
contains the preset bank files (that end with .smpb / .smar) and click OK to import the files:

3. If import is successful, the preset browser will be refreshed and you’ll see the imported banks :

In case importing fails (due to write permission error), you can manually copy the preset bank file(s) (and
the archive file(s) if the preset bank uses any custom samples/waveforms) to the following locations:

 Windows: C:\Program Files\Vstplugins\SynthMaster Player\Presets

 MacOSX: /Library/Application Support/KV331 Audio/SynthMaster Player/Presets
SynthMaster Player User Manual 15

Assigning Easy Knobs to MIDI Controllers (MIDI Learn)

In SynthMaster Player, easy parameters (knobs and XY Pads) can be assigned to MIDI controllers. This
assignment is achieved by the MIDI Learn feature in SynthMaster Player. The easy parameter
assignments are saved in the configuration file so the assignments are global, not per preset.

To Start MIDI Learn: Bring your mouse over the

parameter (knob), and then right click to bring up
the content menu.

Click on the MIDI Learn menu item, and then start

moving the corresponding knob/slider/etc on your
MIDI controller device to send MIDI Control
Change (CC) messages. As soon as SynthMaster
receives a CC message, it will assign that
controller to the parameter.

To Remove MIDI Controller Assignment: Bring

your mouse over the parameter (knob) that’s linked
to a MIDI controller, and then right click to bring up
the content menu.

Click on the Remove MIDI CC Link menu item, and

the assignment will be removed.

Editing Preset Parameters

SynthMaster Player has limited editing capabilities compared to SynthMaster. For each preset, the
following parameters can be edited by the user:

Easy Parameters
Easy parameters are assigned by the sound designer to enable tweaking most important parameters in
the preset’s design. Each preset has 8 easy knobs and 2 XY Pads.
SynthMaster Player User Manual 16

Layer Insert Effects

For each of the 2 layers there are 5 insert effects that
are assigned by the sound designer. To turn on/off
an assigned effect click on the effect name ,
its state will toggle.

Global Insert Effects

There are 2 global effect buses with 5 insert effect
slots for each. To turn on/off an assigned effect click
on the effect name , its state will toggle.

Preset Polyphony
Polyphony is used to limit the maximum number of voices that the
synth can play at a time. By lowering polyphony, you can reduce the
CPU usage of the synth. Its value can be set between 4-64 voices.

Global/Preset Engine Buffer Size

Engine buffer size determines the smallest buffer size at which internal
LFOs, envelopes, etc. are recalculated. Increasing engine buffer size
will lower CPU usage. It takes the following values:

 Short (16 samples)

 Normal (32 samples)
 Large (64 samples)
 XLarge (128 samples)
 XXLarge (256 samples).

TIP: If Global Engine Buffer Size is not set to “Preset” it will override Preset Engine Buffer Size parameter.
TIP: For best performance set buffer size to Normal/Large during tracking, and set it to Short when
bouncing to audio.

Global/Preset Engine Quality

Engine quality determines the internal oversampling rate.
Oversampling helps reduce aliasing noise that’s generated especially
at high pitches. The more oversampling used, the more CPU cycles
will be consumed. The engine quality parameter takes the following
values:
SynthMaster Player User Manual 17

 Draft (no oversampling)

 Good (2 times oversampling)
 Better (3 times oversampling)
 Best (4 times oversampling)

TIP: If Global Engine Quality is not set to “Preset” it will override Preset Engine Quality parameter.
TIP: For best performance set engine quality to Draft during tracking, and set it to Good/Better/Best when
bouncing to audio.

Global/Preset Scale
SynthMaster Player allows you to use different scales globally or for
each preset separately. By default, it comes with only 1 scale
definition: EqualTempered scale. The scale definitions, which are in
Scala format, are stored under:

 Windows: C:\Program Files\VstPlugIns\SynthMaster

Player\Scales
 MacOSX: /Library/Application Support/KV331
Audio/SynthMaster/Scales

TIP: If Global Scale is not set to “Preset” it will override Preset Scale parameter.
TIP: If you want to use different tunings, please copy the scale files (in Scala format) into the above
folders.

Global/Preset Skin
SynthMaster Player comes with 2 different skins (which will be 3 quite
soon!). By changing the Preset Skin parameter, you can use a
different skin for the current preset. For the skin change to take effect,
you have to close and reopen the plug-in window.

TIP: If Global Skin is not set to “Preset” it will override Preset Skin parameter.
SynthMaster Player User Manual 18

Changing Current Skin Globally

To change the current skin globally (for all SynthMaster Player instances), you should

1. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the parameter name) on the header to display the current
value of the Global Skin parameter:

2. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the parameter value) on the header to change Global Skin
parameter’s value:

3. Close and then reopen the skin:

SynthMaster Player User Manual 19

Changing Current Skin for the Current Preset

Rather than using a global skin for all SynthMaster Player instances, you can have a different skin for
each instance. The skin name is saved inside preset settings. To change the current skin for the current
instance, you should

1. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the

parameter name) on the header to display
the current value of the Global Skin
parameter

2. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the

parameter value) on the header to change
Global Skin parameter’s value to Preset

3. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the

parameter name) on the header to display
the current value of the Preset Skin
parameter

4. Click on the left/right arrows (next to the

parameter value) on the header to change
Preset Skin parameter’s value to the skin
you want to switch to

5. Close and then reopen the skin