Exploring the Kalimba - Create Unique Sounds with Bitwig Studio
Tutorial | Jul 10, 2020
I'm showing how to create a sampler instrument from a kalimba using bitvic studio. I have sampled all the plugs on the kalimba and added effects like grain, reverb and delay. I demonstrate how these effects can be used to create a rich sound. I also show a texture mode which can create a pad sound or an eerie drone sound. If you want to download the preset, you can support my channel by going to my Patreon page and subscribing with at least one dollar.
You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon
Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
-
What is the instrument featured in this video?
Answer: The instrument featured in this video is a kalimba, a wooden instrument with metal plugs on top. It produces a beautiful sound and can be sampled and manipulated in bitvic studio. -
What effects are used in the preset featured in this video?
Answer: The preset featured in this video includes a grain effect, reverb, delay, grain frequency, resonator, key tracking, and a miss button which activates the texture mode. These effects are used to create a fuller, more interesting sound. -
How can I save money on bitvic studio?
Answer: You can save money on bitvic studio by using my code when you purchase the regular version of the software. This will give you a 10% discount on the regular price. -
Where can I download the preset featured in this video?
Answer: The preset featured in this video can be downloaded from my Patreon page. To access it, you need to subscribe with at least one dollar.
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
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[00:30.000] so in today's video it's about this small instrument here it's called
[00:47.200] in kalimba it's a wooden instrument and there are some metal plugs on top
[00:52.640] and it sounds pretty beautiful I can play it obviously but I try to
[01:10.780] re-sample it, sample all the plugs multiple times and create a bit
[01:16.380] big sampler instrument from it with some effects on top and I want to show you
[01:21.200] the preset and what you can do with it if you want to save some money on
[01:29.980] bitvic studio and the upgrade plans and you want to support my channel and
[01:34.460] my content then go to my web page use the link to the bitvic store use my
[01:39.120] code and save 10% on the regular price so this is how the preset looks
[01:45.680] inside bitvic studio and this is basically just a regular sampler patch here
[01:51.960] if you double click the preset you can unfold basically it's sampler you can
[01:56.360] see I have here multiple samples for the same keys so I sampled all keys
[02:05.240] basically all individual plugs on the kalimba and I sampled it multiple times
[02:12.120] so you have basically for individual velocity values different samples so
[02:18.560] that's why it sounds so nice in the end hopefully so in the fix slot here we
[02:25.000] have three effects or audio effects at first we have here the grain and then we
[02:32.360] have reverb and then we have delay and you can blend in all these individual
[02:38.880] effects basically in front here with the delay knob and the reverb and the
[02:45.560] grain setting here then we have some additional settings for the grain so we
[02:50.680] can basically tweak how fast you want to have the grain effect to play and the
[02:56.360] grain frequency here also there's a resonator so you can basically muffle the
[03:01.920] sound a bit and activate here and yeah a bandpass filter basically and the
[03:09.560] key track and then there's a so-called mist button where you can create some
[03:16.520] sort of pets or throne sounds and I want to show you how this sounds so this
[03:21.320] is the initial state of the preset when you load it up then you have just the
[03:26.440] kalimba sound so you can just play it on the piano or you can use here like
[03:48.680] I did just the piano roll create some melody line and don't forget here to
[03:56.440] apply some randomized velocity settings so it will sound better at least so
[04:11.800] you can just use it as a plug sound and then there are some effects of course
[04:18.320] there's the grain setting here it's some sort of grain delay and you can
[04:33.680] change the grain x value here it's a bit hard to explain what this parameter
[04:54.560] does but when I show you makes it maybe clearer and we have here some mix
[04:59.520] knobs so I have basically four pitch shifters and one is shifting one octave
[05:05.840] higher than one is shifting one octave lower and so on and then I have here the
[05:10.840] grain setting basically at zero and the mix knob so when you turn the grain x
[05:16.400] here down then you have basically all the pitch shifters in half wet half
[05:23.200] dry basically and you give the dry signal through all the pitch shifters you
[05:29.360] basically have some parallel processing going on and if you go all the way up
[05:34.600] you basically have the mix setting here as you can see and all the pitch shifters
[05:38.960] at 100% and then you have some yeah some sequential processing happening so
[05:47.800] there's a small difference there then there's the grain frequency which just
[05:52.880] changes here the grain frequency on all the pitch shifters at once so this
[05:58.000] gives you some kind of control over the grain delay effect and because the
[06:13.080] grain effect is in front of all the other effects so you can basically use this
[06:17.920] to make the sound with the reverb a bit yeah wide and thick
[06:24.840] so instead of having just one pluck sound with the reverb you can use the
[06:47.320] grain to basically add some small little details granular effects type of sound
[06:55.840] to it okay so these are basically the grain effects and the reverb then there's
[07:12.520] the delay at the end of course and combined with all the other effects
[07:32.600] it gives you a nice rich sound then there's a resonator here which basically
[07:40.600] just activates here the filter section on the sampler itself and it switches
[07:45.280] to the four pole band pass filter it switches on the key track and it
[07:50.640] switches the cutoff frequency here to c3 and because of the key tracking we
[07:57.160] can now play the sound a bit more yeah it basically removes all the harsh
[08:02.880] top end and it leaves you just with a fundamental frequency you still here
[08:10.760] the top end a bit through but the fundamental a frequency is much more
[08:19.720] prominent and maybe if you use the reverb here it gives you more musical
[08:27.680] result instead of okay then we have this missed button here which basically
[08:45.680] activates the texture mode on the sampler it switches the speed to zero and
[08:52.400] then it activates here the random modulators one is for the yeah for the
[08:58.480] position of the texture and one is for the grain size of the texture so
[09:04.520] this gives you basically a pad sound more or less so when we just activate
[09:10.240] this and just press and hold one key you have just one long sound and the
[09:23.880] play it basically moves randomly over the sample which gives you
[09:29.280] sometimes the fundamental frequency and sometimes you get the attack phase and
[09:35.320] some detailed granular effect and of course if you press multiple keys so
[09:42.360] a chord basically then you get a much more ritual result
[09:47.120] when you combine this of course with the grain delay here or grain effect and
[10:07.200] reverb and delay you have some kind of drone machine
[10:37.200] so nice eerie sound effect if you want to have that or you need an airy
[10:52.120] drone then you can use this also here just push this button and play around
[10:57.680] with the grain effect and the reverb and maybe also use the resonator this could
[11:03.240] be nice too
[11:10.240] so I basically try to make this preset as versatile as possible if you
[11:37.520] want to download this preset then you have to head over to my Patreon page
[11:41.760] and subscribe there with at least one dollar then you can download it and
[11:46.040] play around with it please leave me also some feedback in the comments if
[11:50.400] you like the preset or not and leave me maybe a thumbs up and subscribe to
[11:54.920] the channel so you'll be informed about new videos here on this channel so
[11:59.960] thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video bye