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Repro-1 User Guide

This document is the user guide for the Repro-1 Synthesizer by Heckmann Audio. It provides an overview of the synth's controls and interface. The guide describes the preset browser for navigating and loading sounds, and covers the main sections - oscillators, mixer, filter, envelopes and LFO. It also outlines the control panel functions and connection of external MIDI devices.

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Graig Earle
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
114 views53 pages

Repro-1 User Guide

This document is the user guide for the Repro-1 Synthesizer by Heckmann Audio. It provides an overview of the synth's controls and interface. The guide describes the preset browser for navigating and loading sounds, and covers the main sections - oscillators, mixer, filter, envelopes and LFO. It also outlines the control panel functions and connection of external MIDI devices.

Uploaded by

Graig Earle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 53

REPRO-1

USER

GUIDE

HECKMANN

AUDIO GMBH
HECKMANN AUDIO GmbH BERLIN – 09.03.17
MODEL 100B

Revision 1.1.2

S/N 1 and up

Manual Ref. HA100B

22. July 2021

Repro-1 SYNTHESIZER
OPERATION MANUAL
by Heckmann Audio

MASTER TUNE OUTPUT

MIDI UNDO REDO SAVE


SYNTH TWEAKS SEQUENCER PRESETS -12 +12 0 200

MOD FIL ENV TO OSCILLATOR A MIXER FILTER


50 0 1 2 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
WH
WHEEL 0 3 SYNC FEEDB
OFF
DIR
OSC A FREQ
0 100 DIRECT -12 +12 SHAPE 0 100 OFF 0 100 0 100 0 100 NOISE 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
OCTAVE
AMOUNT WH FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH OSC A OSC B CUTOFF RESONANCE ENVELOPE KEYBOARD
OFF AMOUNT AMOUNT
DIR
MOD OSC B OSCILLATOR B GLIDE MODE FILTER ENVELOPE
50 OSC A PW 0 50 50 50 50 50 50
1 2
WHEEL 0 3 LO FREQ KYBD AUTO RETRIG REPEAT DRONE
WH
OFF
DIR
0 100 DIRECT OSC B FREQ -12 +12 SHAPE 0 100 NORM OFF 0 100 NORM NORM OFF OFF 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
OCTAVE
AMOUNT FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH RATE ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE
WH
MOD LFO OFF LFO CLOCK ARP SEQUENCER AMP ENVELOPE
DIR
50 50 1/4
50 50 50 50
WHEEL OSC B PW CLOCK LFO UP LATCH REC 1+2
1/1
WH 1/16 KEY OFF OFF 2
OFF
0 100 DIRECT DIR 0 100 RATE SHAPE 8 /1 1/64 OFF REST 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
CLOCK UP/ PLAY 1
AMOUNT FILTER DOWN ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

GATE PERFORM
PB RANGE
KEYS

Q S+H SL
+
VELOCITY
EFFECTS

Q S+H SL
BYPASS FX PITCH MOD AFTERTOUCH

HECKMANN AUDIO GmbH, BERLIN 2


1 INTRODUCTION 4
1-1 INSTALLATION ..........................................................4
1-2 RESOURCES ..............................................................5
1-3 KNOBS AND SWITCHES ............................................5
1-4 CONTROL BAR ..........................................................6
2 PRESET BROWSER 7
2-1 DIRECTORY PANEL ...................................................8
2-2 PRESETS PANEL ......................................................10
2-3 INTERNAL DRAG & DROP .......................................11
2-4 EXTERNAL DRAG & DROP ......................................11
2-5 INSTALLING SOUNDSETS .......................................12
2-6 TAGGING .................................................................13
2-7 SEARCH BY TAGS ....................................................14
2-8 SEARCH BY TEXT ....................................................16
2-9 SMART FOLDERS ....................................................18
3 SYNTH 20
3-1 VOICE SIGNAL FLOW ..............................................20
3-2 OSCILLATOR A ........................................................21
3-3 OSCILLATOR B ........................................................22
3-4 GLIDE & MODE .......................................................22
3-5 MIXER .....................................................................23
3-6 FILTER .....................................................................23
3-7 FILTER ENVELOPE ..................................................24
3-8 AMP ENVELOPE ......................................................25
3-9 LFO ..........................................................................26
3-10 MODULATION SECTION .......................................26
3-11 CLOCK ...................................................................29
3-12 ARP / SEQUENCER (basic access) .........................29

4 SEQUENCER 31
4-1 PATTERN data .........................................................31
4-2 SEQUENCER control ................................................32
4-3 EDIT ........................................................................33
5 KEYS / PERFORM 34
6 EFFECTS 38
6-1 JAWS wavefolder .....................................................38
6-2 LYREBIRD delay.......................................................40
6-3 RESQ resonator / equalizer .....................................41
6-4 DRENCH reverb .......................................................42
6-5 SONIC CONDITIONER.............................................43
7 TWEAKS 44
7-1 JUMPERS .................................................................44
7-2 SELECTORS .............................................................45

8 CONFIGURATION 47
8-1 ABOUT MIDI CC ......................................................47
8-2 MIDI LEARN ............................................................47
8-3 MIDI TABLE .............................................................48
8-4 PREFERENCES ........................................................49
9 NKS 52
10 Troubleshooting 53

HECKMANN AUDIO GmbH, BERLIN 3


1 INTRODUCTION
1-0 HISTORY
Repro-1 is a component-level model of perhaps the most powerful-sounding monophonic
keyboard ever built. When its 4-year production run started in the early 1980s, polyphonic
synthesizers were almost within reach of the average musician. To be commercially viable, any
new monophonic instrument had to be cheap but very capable. Fat drones, cutting leads, funky
basses, quirky sci-fi sound effects – this synthesizer delivered on all counts.
The circuit design made good use of standard Curtis chips (3340 oscillator, 3320 filter and
3310 envelope) and the little onboard sequencer was more than just a welcome extra. Despite
its molded plastic panel and the limitations of monophony, it sold surprisingly well and is gen-
erally recognized as an iconic piece of synthesizer history. Soaring prices guaranteed.
So here’s our plug-in version, Repro-1: All the lovable quirks of this classic synth, but with a
much more capable sequencer, lots of presets, effects and under-the-hood tweaks. Enjoy!
- Urs and the team

1-1 INSTALLATION
The following procedure installs both Repro-1 and Repro-5 on your hard disk
Go to the Repro web page, download the latest installer for your system (Mac/Win). Unzip the
compressed file, open the Repro-1 folder and start the installer application. The only demo re-
striction is a mild crackling at irregular intervals after about two minutes of use. The demo is
otherwise fully functional. Those crackles disappear after you have purchased a license and
entered the serial number. For more information, please refer to the ReadMe file included with
the installer. By default, Repro-1 uses the following directories:
Windows
Presets (Local) C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\Presets\Repro-1\

Presets (User) C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\UserPresets\Repro-1\

Preferences C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\Support\ (*.txt files)

Alternative skins C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\Support\Themes\
Paths containing non-standard characters are not supported. If a previous installation into e.g.
the VstPlugins folder didn’t cause any file permissions problems, you can safely reinstall there.
macOS
Presets (Local) MacHD/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Repro-1/

Presets (User) MacHD/Users/*YOU*/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/Repro-1/

Preferences MacHD/Users/*YOU*/Library/AppSupport/u-he/com.u-he.Repro-1... (*.*)

Alternative skins MacHD/Library/AppSupport/u-he/Themes/

Other resources MacHD/Library/AppSupport/u-he/Repro-1/
To uninstall Repro, delete the plugin files and the above folders.
Important: Realtime malware scanners (e.g. Windows Defender) allowed to scan u-he plugin
resources will slow down the browser considerably, depending on the number of presets.
Please add the Repro-1.data folder to the scanner's exceptions list (you can rest assured that
we havn't put any executable files in there). Mac owners using a malware scanner should add
the above /u-he/ resource directories to the exceptions list.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 4
1-2 RESOURCES
u-he online
For downloads, news and support, go to the u-he website
For heated debates about u-he products, go to the u-he forum
For friendship and informal news updates, go to our facebook page
For u-he presets (paid or free), go to u-he preset library PatchLib
For video tutorials and more, go to our youtube channel
For personal pics and a few videos, go to our instagram page
For audio demos of soundsets, go to our soundcloud

u-he team 2021 (Q3)


Urs Heckmann (boss, concepts, big code)
Jayney Klimek (office management)
Howard Scarr (user guides, presets, grump)
Rob Clifton-Harvey (IT admin, backend development)
Sebastian Greger (graphic design)
Jan Storm (framework, code)
Alexandre Bique (all things Linux)
Oddvar Manlig (business development)
Viktor Weimer (support, presets)
Thomas Binek (QA, bug-hunting, presets)
Henna Gramentz (office supervision, support)
Frank Hoffmann (framework, browser)
Alf Klimek (rock-star, studio, voiceovers)
Sebastian Hübert (media, synthwave)
David Schornsheim (more code)
Stephan Eckes (yet more code)
Luca Christakopoulos (communication design)

JUMP BETWEEN CHAPTERS USING THE HYPERLINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE

1-3 KNOBS AND SWITCHES


The knobs respond to vertical click & drag and to mouse wheel movement (no clicks
required). You can fine tune most parameters, most often with a resolution of 0.01, by hold-
ing down SHIFT before clicking on the knob. How switches react depends on a global prefer-
ence called Switch Behaviour – see the Configuration chapter.
The name and value of the control currently being edited appears in the data display, which
you will find in the middle of the control bar (see below).
Parameter Locking: To prevent a value from changing when you switch presets, use the Lock
function – right-click on any control and select the last entry in the menu. Don’t forget to un-
lock afterwards, otherwise presets will sound “wrong”.
Entering values: The value of the most recently used control can be set by entering numbers
on your computer keyboard. Switches take integer indices e.g. you can set Clock to 1/16 by
entering ‘19’. Please note that hosts respond differently to keyboard strokes while a plug-in
has the focus – you might have to set an option to allow this feature. If in doubt, please refer
to the documentation of your host app.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 5
1-4 CONTROL BAR
MASTERTUNE OUTPUT

MIDI UNDO REDO SAVE


SYNTH TWEAKS SEQUENCER PRESETS -12 +12 0 200

u-he Badge: Clicking on u-he opens a popup menu containing links to this user guide, to our
homepage, to our support forum, and to various social networks.
SYNTH, TWEAKS, SEQUENCER, PRESETS: These buttons switch between Repro-1’s four ba-
sic views. To ensure that each new instance will open in the current view, right-click anywhere
within the row of buttons and select set current as default.
MIDI activity: An indicator which flashes whenever MIDI data is being received.
Data Display: The text display at the top performs several duties. Normally, it shows the name
of the preset. Clicking on the triangles steps through all presets, while clicking in the middle of
the display lets you select any preset from the current folder or load an initialize (init) preset.
While editing, the parameter name and value will appear in the display for a few seconds.
UNDO / REDO buttons: To the right of the data display is a pair of buttons you can use to fix
any ‘mistakes’. Although the number of steps in the buffer is limited, you can even undo a
change of preset, so switching presets doesn’t mean losing your work.
SAVE button: Stores the preset into either the currently selected folder or the ‘User’ folder, de-
pending on the Save Presets To preference (see chapter 8). To select a different folder, click on
PRESETS and navigate in the directory. Then click on [SAVE], give your preset a suitable
name and enter any details you would like to appear in the PRESET INFO area of the browser.
Note: Please avoid using these characters while naming folders/presets: (\ / ? % * : " > < =).
Right-clicking on [SAVE] opens a menu with a choice of file formats. The recommended h2p
option is our cross-platform format (editable text), while h2p extended includes extra readable
info. The native option is the standard format of your system (.fxp for VST and AAX, .aupreset
for Audio Units). An nksf option also appears in the VST2 version – see chapter 9.
Note: The following switches are global per instance i.e. they are not saved with each preset:
HQ, zZz, BYPASS FX, arpeggio LATCH, sequencer ON KEY | ALWAYS.
HQ button: The global High Quality option should only be necessary for extreme FM sounds
or extreme pitches. Circuit-level modeling requires plenty of CPU anyway, and there’s no point
in doubling that requirement for little or no difference in the sound. Consider carefully!
zZz button (‘Sleepy’): Activating this global option reduces the CPU consumption whenever
Repro-1 isn’t playing any notes. Please note, however, that Sleepy mode can cause artifacts not
present in the original hardware.
MASTER TUNE: Tunes the preset within a range of +/– 12 semitones. For fine tuning, hold
down a SHIFT key on your computer keyboard while adjusting.
OUTPUT: Final volume control, after the amplifier and all effects. Normally set to 12 o’clock
i.e. 100%, the volume can be boosted up to 200% if necessary.
Configuration button: A click on the cogwheel opens the configuration pages, which contain
MIDI control options as well as several global preferences. See chapter 8.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 6
2 PRESET BROWSER

In the control bar, click on the PRESETS tab. You should see something like this:
PRESETS

DIRECTORY TAGS RESTORE Clear Cut PRESET INFO


A Leaky
Audio Groove
Rate Trampoline Proximity Alert A Leaky Groove
Search
Audio Rate Trampoline Pwmed Again /Local
Local Big Berty Regal in Repro-1 Factory Best Of
Sage by The Unshushable Coktor
01 Basses Blue Skies Above
02 Leads Breakwater Sync Saw Super Lead
DESCRIPTION
03 Chords Catquack Bass Space Renegade
Stealthy, suspenseful beat that benefits from
04 Effects Clear Cut Tape Epic
slower tempo between 105 - 110 bpm.
05 Percussion Cray Lead The Big Reveal Modwheel brings out the rust.
06 Arpeggios Cyborg Dance Thin Air
Decayed Hero Tiptoe USAGE
07 Seq - Melodic
08 Seq - Basslines Discover Things Torture Rumble FX MW = crossmod
09 Seq - Percussive French Funk Bass Two Chord Trix
CATEGORIES
1981 Historic Gentle Attack PWM Vintage to the Bone Lead
MIDI Programs Harmonic Split Xaos 2
User Hurry Modular Zing Pluck FEATURES
Search History Hypercube
s Saved Searches interesting Tines CHARACTER
Bank Labtron Beat 1
Favourites Major Major
Junk (0) Mono Power
Tags Orange Radio
Author Pling Delay Dies Down

Folders appear on the left (drag the scrollbar to see more), presets appear in the centre and
information about the currently active preset appears on the right. If you can’t see any presets
at all, click on Local then on 01 Basses (for instance). If you don’t see a PRESET INFO panel,
click on the [≣] button in the top right corner and activate Show Preset Info.
Note: The Local root directory contains a representative selection of presets.
To load a preset, click on its name. Immediately after selecting a preset you can step through
all the others using your computer’s cursor keys.

Default, initialize
Whenever Repro-1 is started it checks whether the ‘Local’ root contains a preset called default.
If this file exists, it is loaded instead of the demo sound.
If you want Repro-5 to start with a simple template instead of the default preset, right-click on
the data display and select init (initialize). Check that the ‘Local’ root directory is currently
open then [SAVE] your preset under the name default.
Note that default will not appear in the browser. If a fresh instance of Repro-1 is not loading
your new default, it probably landed in ‘User’ instead, in which case you should change the
Save Presets To setting (in Configuration/Preferences) and repeat the above.

More Sounds
Soundsets we sell online are in the .uhe-soundset format (see 2-5 INSTALLING SOUNDSETS).
Many 3rd party sounds, commercial as well as free, are also available via Patchlib.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 7
2-1 DIRECTORY PANEL
If you don’t see this panel in Repro-1’s PRESETS browser, click on DIRECTORY.

DIRECTORY

Search

Local
Local
01 Basses
02 Leads
03 Chords
04 Effects
05 Percussion
06 Arpeggios
07 Seq - Melodic
08 Seq - Basslines
09 Seq - Percussive
1981 Historic
MIDI Programs
User
Search History
s Saved Searches
Bank
Favourites
Junk (nn)
Tags
Categories
Features
Character
? [no Tags] (nn)
Author

The ‘Local’ folder


Repro-1‘s factory presets are sorted into folders 01 to 09. We recommend that you do not add
or remove any presets there, but save all your creations into ‘User’ (see below).
Named after the year Repro-1’s hardware ancestor first appeared, the 1981 Historic folder
contains 20 presets meticulously copied from patch sheets in the original printed manual.
‘Local’ also contains a special folder called ‘MIDI Programs’, which is normally empty. When
the first instance of Repro-1 starts, up to 128 presets from that folder are loaded into memory
so they can be selected via MIDI Program Change message. It is a good idea to call those pre-
sets e.g. ‘000 rest-of-name’ to ‘127 rest-of-name’, as they are accessed in alphabetical order.
But that’s not all: the ‘MIDI Programs’ folder can contain up to 127 sub-folders, switched via
MIDI Bank Select messages (CC#0). Send Bank Select first, then Program Change. ‘MIDI Pro-
grams’ is bank 0, sub-folders are addressed in alphabetical order starting with bank 1.
When Repro-1 receives a program change, it will display the bank and program numbers to
the left of the preset name e.g. “0:0” for the first preset in the first bank. In certain hosts e.g.
Ableton Live, however, the first bank / preset is designated “1” instead of the correct “0”.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 8
To avoid another possible source of confusion, make sure that there are no junked presets in
the MIDI Programs folder. All files there are indexed, whether they are visible or not.

IMPORTANT
‘MIDI Programs’ cannot be added, removed or renamed on the fly – any changes to that
directory will only be updated after the host application is restarted.

The ‘User’ folder


The best address for all your creations! You can either select User immediately before saving
the preset, or set a global preference which ensures that it will always be saved to this folder –
see the Save Presets To preference in section 8-4.
Tip: It’s worth finding out where the User folder resides on your computer, especially if you
want to manually install soundsets. Right-click on User and select Open in Finder /Explorer.

Search History, Saved Searches, Favourites, Junk, Tags


These aren’t regular folders, but smart folders. See section 2-9.

Directory context menu


Right-clicking on any folder within Local or User will open this menu:

Refresh
Create New…
Rename…
Open in Finder *

Move to Trash *
On Open Expand to
Show Folder Icons

Refresh: Updates the contents of the browser. Required for Windows users.
Create New… Insert an empty subfolder.
Rename… Edit the folder name.
Open in Finder / Explorer: Opens a system window for the clicked folder. If you hold down
an option key (Mac) or ctrl key (Windows), the entry will change to Show in Finder / Explorer
and the folder will be highlighted instead of opened.
On Open Expand to: These options determine how deeply the browser will open subdirecto-
ries whenever the GUI is opened again or the refresh function is called. The first option (none)
collapses all folders, while the final option (all levels) reveals all nested folders.
Show Folder Icons: Deselect this option if you find the folder icons distracting. The Junk icon
is always visible.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 9
2-2 PRESETS PANEL
The central, unlabelled area of the browser is where you click to load presets…
Presets context menu
Right-click to open a menu containing functions you can apply to individual presets.

Mark as Favourite 1
Mark as Favourite 2
Mark as Favourite 3
Mark as Favourite 4
Mark as Favourite 5
Mark as Favourite 6
Mark as Favourite 7
Mark as Favourite 8
Mark as Junk

Show Junk
Select All
Deselect
Rename…
Copy to User Folder *
Show in Finder *
Convert to h2p *

Move to Trash *

Mark as Favourite: Choose just one of eight differently coloured dots. To remove the dot
again, right-click on the preset(s) and select unmark as favourite.
Mark as Junk / Show Junk: Instead of deleting unloved presets, mark them as ‘junk’ so that
they disappear from the browser. Activate Show Junk to display junked files instead, and
mark them with a STOP symbol.
Select All, Deselect: See Multiple Selection on the next page.
Rename…: You can change preset names with this function. Note that only the most recently
selected preset can be renamed i.e. you can’t rename multiple files at once.
Copy to User Folder / Duplicate: This entry depends on the status of Save Presets To as well
as on the location of the source preset(s) – whether they are in the Local or the User folder.
Selected presets are copied with a number appended to the name, which increments (just like
the Auto Versioning option) so that no preset can be overwritten by mistake.
Show in Finder / Explorer: Opens a system window for the right-clicked file. In smart folders
only, holding down an option key (Mac) or ctrl key (Windows) replaces this entry with Show
in Browser, which shows the currently selected file in its original location in Repro-1’s browser.
Convert to native / h2p / h2p extended: Converts the selected preset(s) into the format pre-
viously selected by right-clicking on the [SAVE] button.
Move to Trash / Recycle Bin: Moves the selected preset(s) to the system trash.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 10
[RESTORE] button
You can try out any number of presets without losing track of the one that was loaded imme-
diately before you opened the browser. Clicking on the [RESTORE] button loads that preset
and opens the enclosing folder.

Scan / Ready
In the top right of the presets panel is a dark rectangle normally labelled ‘ready’. Whenever
you use the refresh function (see the Directory context menu on the previous page), this turns
into a progress indicator showing the preset database being refreshed.

Multiple selection
A block of presets can be selected via shift+click, and individual presets can be added via
cmd-click (Mac) / alt+click (Windows). Presets can be moved to a different folder via drag &
drop. To deselect, click on an unselected preset or choose Deselect from the context menu.

PRESET INFO
The area to the right displays information about the selected preset. If you can’t see it, click on
the triple bar [≡] button in the top right corner and tick Show Preset Info. Another option in
the same menu lets you show or hide the tags only.

2-3 INTERNAL DRAG & DROP


You can drag and drop single or multiple files from the preset panel onto any folders in the
directory panel. Files dragged onto regular folders will be moved unless you hold an option
key (macOS) or ctrl key (Windows), in which case they will be copied instead. Files dropped
onto smart folders will adopt the attribute of that folder: For instance, you can set the Author
or Favourite status of several presets at once. See also tagging using the Tags subfolders.

2-4 EXTERNAL DRAG & DROP


To manage your preset library externally you can drag presets and folders between Repro-1’s
browser and your desktop (or any system window).
On the Mac most Finder operations will automatically update the browser. Updating might not
be immediate when using multiple formats or multiple host applications, but all it usually
takes is a click on the GUI or directory tree (sets focus to the clicked instance of Repro-1). On
Windows systems, a manual Refresh (see Directory context menu) will be required before
changes to the contents of the browser appear.
Another little helper: If you drag a Repro-1 preset from e.g. your desktop and drop it onto the
Data Display, that preset will be loaded (but not automatically saved).

Exporting smart folders


Drag any smart folder onto the desktop to create a new folder containing those presets. Drag
an entry from your Search History, or the Category ‘FX’, the Favourites or one of the Authors.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 11
Exporting favourite / junk status
You can export Favourite status, all at once or individually: Shift+click and drag the
‘Favourites’ folder onto the desktop to create a file called Favourites.uhe-fav. Similarly for sub-
folders: If you shift+click and drag e.g. ‘Favourites 5’, this will create a file called Favourite
5.uhe-fav. The same method works for Junk status, creating a file called Junk.uhe-fav. Such
files can be imported into Repro-1’s browser on a different computer (for instance), via drag &
drop onto or anywhere within the Favourites folder, or to the Junk folder.
Note that importing .uhe-fav files from another computer will only work 100% correctly if all
preset names and locations are identical on both computers!

2-5 INSTALLING SOUNDSETS


All soundsets we distribute ourselves will (eventually) be available in .uhe-soundset format.
Third parties are also encouraged to use this package format for their own commercial sound-
sets – for details please contact our support team.

Standard Method
To install, drag & drop the .uhe-soundset file into Repro-1 – anywhere will work. The soundset
should appear in the ‘User’ folder. If a soundset with the same name already exists there, any
modified files will be backed up and the location of the backup file will be displayed.

Alternative Method
Soundsets in .uhe-soundset format can be installed by clicking on the u-he badge and selecting
Install Soundset... from the menu. This option is especially useful for Linux, as the browser
version for that platform does not support drag & drop.

Regular Folders
Folders containing Hive presets can be manually copied or moved into the ‘User’ folder. You
might have to refresh the browser (see Directory context menu) before they appear there. A
refresh is generally necessary in Windows but not in macOS.
Note: As .uhe-soundset files are basically ZIP-compressed folders, you can rename them i.e. re-
place the long file extension with ‘.zip’ then extract everything in the usual way.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 12
2-6 TAGGING
“Tags” are elements of metadata (information) you can add to presets so that they can be
found according to certain attributes. See the image below.
IMPORTANT: Clicking on [SAVE] isn’t required, as tags are updated automatically. This makes
editing tags much quicker overall, but also means that you should make a habit of adding tags
after you have saved your preset, not while you are still editing them. Why? Because if you
start changing the tags in the middle of creating a second version of a preset, you are also
changing the tags in the original preset!
To set tags, you have a choice of three methods:

Standard method: Using the tagging window


Right-click on the [SAVE] button and select Tag this Patch:

CATEGORY FEATURES CHARACTER


Bass Acoustic Mono Slow Release Bright Dark
Pads Analogue Chord Glide Constant Moving
Leads Dist+LoFi BPM Clean Dirty
Keys E-Bass OscSync Soft Aggressive
FX FX Bass CrossMod Harmonic Inharmonic
Drums Plucks Dry Phat Thin
Seq+Arp Rhythmic Modulated Natural Synthetic
Other Sub Percussive Modern Vintage
Sync Soft Attack
Synth
Vocal

CATEGORY describes a preset by analogy to instrument type or classic synth genre. Each cate-
gory has its own set of subcategories. FEATURES are technical classifications, and CHARAC-
TER tags are pairs of opposites from which you can choose only one.

Alternative 1: Using the PRESET INFO


In the PRESET INFO panel, right-click on CATEGORY, FEATURES or CHARACTER and select or
unselect tags from the menu. Note: This method only works for individual presets. If you
right-click on an existing tag, the first option in the menu becomes remove tag ‘xx’.
The function create Search from Tags searches for presets with ALL those same tags.

Alternative 2: Using the Tags subfolders


You can drag & drop presets onto Tags smart folders e.g. Tags/Categories/Keys/Bells/. To re-
move all tags from one or more presets, drag them onto the [no Tags] smart folder.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 13
2-7 SEARCH BY TAGS
Click on the large TAGS tab to open this view. The buttons in this panel let you set up search
criteria according to tags with just a few mouseclicks:

TAGS

Search

Local
CATEGORIES
Bass Pads Leads Keys FX Drums Seq+Arp Other

FEATURES
Mono Chord BPM OscSync CrossMod Dry Modulated

Percussive Soft Attack Slow Release Glide

CHARACTER
Bright Dark Constant Moving Clean Dirty

Soft Aggressive Phat Thin Natural Synthetic

Modern Vintage

FAVOURITES
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

There are four sets of buttons. The first three correspond to the tags in the tagging window
(see the previous page), and the bottom row lets you search any ‘Favourites’. Click the [^]
button on the right to collapse any of these tag types.

CATEGORIES and SUBCATEGORIES


Here are just a few bullet points to get you started. For this type of tag in particular, following
a step-by-step tutorial is much easier than studying a full technical description. Try these:
• Each of the CATEGORIES has its own set of subcategories. Not selecting any subcategory
here means “show me presets tagged with any subcategory”. Click on [Leads]…
• You can select multiple categories without specifying any subcategory if you hold Cmd
(Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) while clicking on the category. Try that, click on [Keys].
• Selecting the subcategory with the same name as the category means “show me presets
tagged without a subcategory”. You will not find any of these in the factory presets.
• Completed category+subcategory tags appear below the subcategories as buttons with ‘off’
switches [X] so you can add other main categories by simply clicking on them.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 14
Practical tutorial
• Click on the DIRECTORY tab, right-click on the Search History smart folder and select clear.
Double-click on Local/02 Leads to restrict the scope of the search to that particular folder.
The selected path /Local/02 Leads appears below the Search field instead of preset folders.
• Click on the TAGS tab. In the CATEGORIES, select [Bass]. Subcategory buttons appear and
the preset window is updated to list all presets in 02 Leads that are also tagged as [Bass].
• Now click on [Pads]. The [Bass] category is switched off, and the preset window is updated
to list all the presets in 02 Leads that are also tagged as any kind of [Pads]. Note that you
still haven’t specified a subcategory yet…
• Hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Win) and select the [Bass] category again. Although no longer
outlined, the previously selected [Pads] remains highlighted and the list shows all presets in
02 Leads that have either of those tags, disregarding any subcategories.
• Click on DIRECTORY: The text #Bass:* #Pads:* appears in the editable field as well as in
the Search History smart folder (see section 2-9), which also shows the number of found
presets. The colon separates the category from the subcategory, and the star (*) means “any
subcategory, even none”.
• Click on the TAGS tab again. Select the [Leads] category without holding down Cmd/Ctrl
this time… the [Bass] and [Pads] tags are both removed from the search. Select [Sync] as
subcategory. The result is a list of all 16 presets in 02 Leads that have the Leads:Sync tag.
Below the subcategory options you will see the complete tag in the form [Category:Sub-
category|X].
• Let’s get more hits by including another subcategory: Click on the [Distorted] subcategory.
[Sync] remains selected, and the list of hits is updated to include presets which have either
of those tags i.e. 28 in total. Click on [Sync] and the tag search will find only 17 presets –
all those that are tagged as [Leads:Distorted].
• Click the [Bass] category. Below the subcategories, the [Leads:Distorted|X] switch remains
in place because that tag is complete. Check out the category tags in PRESET INFO by click-
ing on several presets in turn: Each one will have either a Leads:Distorted tag or a Bass tag
(disregarding subcategory) or both.
• Click on the DIRECTORY tab. The text #Bass:* #Leads:Distorted appears in the search
field as well as the Search History smart folder. If you are feeling adventurous, you can edit
this and the results will be updated accordingly.
• To the left of the grey search path is an ‘up’ [^] symbol. Click on this to exit the current
folder i.e. change the search path from /Local/02 Leads to the /Local root. The list of hits is
immediately updated to 193 presets because the search now includes all of /Local.
• Another click on [^] exits to the whole preset library i.e. /Local and /User. Clicking on the
[X] symbol to the right of the search path will exit immediately. Try that.

Repeat the above a few times if necessary – you’ll soon get the hang of it!


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 15
FEATURES, CHARACTER and FAVOURITES
These types of tags are much easier to explain. Unlike multiple Category tags, which expand
the search, selecting these Tag types always restrict the search. For example, let’s find the few
inharmonic sequences in the entire preset library, irrespective of category:
• If any CATEGORIES are still highlighted, click on them.
• Select FEATURES = [Seq] and CHARACTER =[Inharmonic]. That’s it.

Summary:
In the DIRECTORY panel, specify a search path via double-click. In the TAGS panel, select cat-
egory tags. Add others if required to extend the search, but remember to hold down Cmd
(Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) if you want to retain category tags that don’t specify a subcategory.
Select Features, Character and/or Favourites tags to refine the search. Exit any search path by
clicking on the [X] to the right.

2-8 SEARCH BY TEXT


The editable field immediately below the DIRECTORY and TAGS tabs lets you search for pre-
sets according to a string of characters i.e. text. The search normally looks into the preset
name, the author, the DESCRIPTION and USAGE (see the PRESET INFO panel). It is not case-
sensitive. Quotes are not required unless you need to include spaces.
If you want to restrict the search to a particular path e.g. Local/05 Percussion, double click on
the 05 Percussion folder. This path then appears below the Search field, and you will only see
smart folders plus any subfolders within the selected path (there are none in this example):

DIRECTORY

Search

/Local/05 Percussion

Search History
s Saved Searches
Bank
Favourites
Tags
Author

The [^] button to the left moves the search path up one level, in this case to /Local. The [ X ]
button to the right sets the search path to the default Local and User (i.e. all Repro-1 presets),
and the preset folders become visible again. Alternatively, you can navigate directly to any
higher level by right-clicking on the path.
Try a text search: Enter three or four letters then hit Return. For instance, star will find all files
containing the text string star (e.g. mustard or starters). Entering "star wars" (with the quotes)
would find e.g. Battlestar Warship, if such a string existed in the presets.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 16
Scope
You can limit the scope of the search to just the preset name or specific parts of PRESET INFO
by using name (preset name), author, desc (description) or use (usage) followed by a colon.
For instance, author:the finds all presets by sound designers whose author names contain ‘the’.
Similarly, desc:space will find all presets with the word space in the description.

Logic
Important: The following logical operators can only be used between text elements.
AND requires that presets contain both words. It can be written explicitly if you prefer, but is
not necessary. For example, star AND wars (or simply star wars) will find presets that contain
both star and wars.
OR means that presets can contain just one of the words, or both. For example, star OR wars
will find presets that contain star as well as presets that contain wars.
NOT excludes presets containing the word. To find all presets that contain star but don’t con-
tain wars, enter star NOT wars.

Written Tags
Regular tags can also be entered into the search field if preceded with a ‘#’. For example,
name:"hs " #bass:* will find all presets with "hs " in the name that are tagged as Bass with any
or no subcategory. The colon separates category and subcategory, and the star (*) means “any
subcategory, even none”. Between multiple tags of the same type is an implicit OR, while be-
tween different types is an implicit AND.
Note: In the current version of the browser, tags must appear after any text items!

A few example searches


Try copy/pasting these into Repro-1’s search field:
desc:classic
author:ark
use:"at =" author:sc
usage:"bc ="
"hs " OR xen #leads:*
tuc NOT "mw ="

ark OR howard #bass:wobble = all ARK plus HS wobble basses


ark OR NOT how #bass:wobble = all ARK plus non-HS wobble basses
xs OR NOT ark #bass:wobble = all XS plus non-ARK wobble basses


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 17
2-9 SMART FOLDERS
Smart folders do not contain files, they display the results of querying a database of all presets.
The content is therefore dynamic i.e. it will change whenever the underlying data changes.

Search History
Click on this folder to display the results of past searches (maximum 10). Whenever you need
to make the results of a search more permanent, right-click and select save Search… The entry
will be moved to the ‘Saved Searches’ folder – see below.
To remove all searches from the list, right-click on the ‘Search History’ folder and select clear.
Note: Individual entries cannot be removed here, unlike ‘Saved Searches’…

Saved Searches
This folder contains searches that have been saved via right click from ‘Search History’. Entries
dragged from ‘Saved Searches’ and dropped onto real folders within ‘Local’ or ‘User’ will create
a folder containing copies of all found presets. To remove individual saved searches, right-click
on the search and select delete.

Favourites
8 smart folders, one for each Favourite colour. See Presets context menu. Presets dropped onto
one of the Favourites folders will be marked as such.

Junk
A smart folder pointing to all junked presets. See Presets context menu. Presets dropped onto
this folder will be junked, and will therefore disappear from the rest of the browser unless
made visible (see show junk in the Presets context menu).

Tags
Smart folders for each Category/Subcategory, Features and Character tag. Presets dropped onto
these folders will adopt the corresponding tag. Presets dropped onto the [no Tags] folder will
have all Category/Subcategory, Features and Character tags removed.

Author
Smart folders for each Author. Tip: Instead of signing each of your creations, you could sign
just one of them, then select them all and drag them onto Author/(You)/. As the process can-
not be undone, you should use this feature with caution.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 18
WAVE SHAPE GENERATION COMBINATION TIMBRE MODIFICATION LOUDNESS MODIFICATION

FILTER FEEDBACK

OSCILLATOR A
MIXER
TO FX
FINAL VCA
OCTAVE FREQUENCY SHAPE
CUTOFF RESONANCE
OSC A

SYNC PULSE WIDTH OSC B

KEYBOARD ENVELOPE VOLUME


FEEDB AMOUNT AMOUNT

NOISE

FILTER ENVELOPE AMP ENVELOPE


WHITE NOISE

OSCILLATOR B
KYBD

OFF OCTAVE FREQUENCY SHAPE


ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

TRIGGER GATE TRIGGER GATE


LO FREQ

NORM PULSE WIDTH

KYBD CV AUTO

GLIDE NORM

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS
MASTER TUNE Figure 2-1
PITCH VOICE SIGNAL FLOW

19
3 SYNTH

3-0 OVERVIEW
This section explains the various modules available on Repro-1’s SYNTH panel. If you don’t
see this panel, click on the SYNTH button at the top left of Repro-1’s window.

SYNTH

MODFIL ENV TO OSCILLATORA MIXER FILTER


50 WH 0 1 2 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
WHEEL 0 3 SYNC FEEDB
OFF
DIR
OSCA FREQ
DIRECT SHAPE OFF NOISE
0 100 -12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
AMOUNT WH FREQUENCY PULSEWIDTH OSCA OSCB CUTOFF RESONANCE ENVELOPE KEYBOARD
OFF AMOUNT AMOUNT
DIR
MODOSCB OSCILLATORB GLIDE MODE FILTERENVELOPE
OSCA PW
50 0 1 2 50 50 50 50 50 50
WHEEL 0 3 LOFREQ KYBD AUTO RETRIG REPEAT DRONE
WH
OFF
DIR
DIRECT SHAPE NORM OFF NORM NORM OFF OFF
0 100 OSCB FREQ -12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
AMOUNT FREQUENCY PULSEWIDTH RATE ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE
WH
MODLFO OFF LFO CLOCK ARP SEQUENCER AMP ENVELOPE
DIR
50 50 1/4
50 50 50 50
WHEEL OSCB PW CLOCK LFO UP LATCH REC 1+2
1/1
WH 1/16 KEY OFF OFF 2
OFF
DIRECT DIR RATE SHAPE OFF REST
0 100 0 100 8/1 1/64 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
CLOCK UP/ PLAY 1
AMOUNT FILTER DOWN ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

The PRESETS browser is described in the previous chapter, while the TWEAKS page and SE-
QUENCER functions are described in separate chapters later in this guide.
Due to its relatively simple architecture, you can operate Repro-1 without having to think
about its structure. However, if you want to make the most of the available options, it’s best to
understand how signals are routed between those modules…

3-1 VOICE SIGNAL FLOW


On the next page is a flow diagram showing the audio signal paths as well as some keyboard
control paths – you might like to print it out for future reference. A similar diagram of modu-
lation signal paths appears later in this chapter.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 20
3-2 OSCILLATOR A

OSCILLATOR A
0 1 2 50
SYNC
0 3

SHAPE OFF
-12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100
FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH

FREQUENCY knob: Adjusts pitch within a two-octave range (+/– 12 semitones).

FINE TUNING trimmer between FREQUENCY and OCTAVE: Adjusts pitch within a 40 cent
range (+/– 20 cents). Its main purpose is to adjust the rate of beating between the two oscil-
lators when they are tuned almost in unison.

OCTAVE rotary switch: Transposes oscillator pitch over a four-octave range.


SAWTOOTH SHAPE switch: The UP position activates the standard brassy waveform contain-
ing all harmonics (odd as well as even).
PULSE SHAPE switch: The ‘up’ position enables a waveform with a harmonic content that de-
pends on the PULSE WIDTH setting but sounds generally more hollow than the sawtooth. If
neither SHAPE is switched on, OSCILLATOR A is silent. If both SHAPEs are active, the mixture
normally has a lower volume than each single shape due to the phase relationship between
the saw and pulse. To remedy this effect, set the P5 option (see Oscillator Tweaks on page 31).

PULSE WIDTH knob: Adjusts the harmonic content of the pulse wave by setting its “duty cy-
cle”. The range is from 0% to 100%. Double-click on the knob for a 50% pulse (a clean square
wave which only contains odd-integer harmonics).
Notes: At extreme values, the signal gets so thin that it becomes inaudible (DC, direct
current). The PULSE WIDTH knob has no effect on the sawtooth.

SYNC switch: Hard synchronization forces the waveform of OSC A to reset whenever OSC B
hits zero. The frequency of OSC A generally needs to be higher than OSC B for this to work
properly. Experiment: Intermediate FREQUENCY values can produce unusual timbres at the
next lower harmonic of OSC B.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 21
3-3 OSCILLATOR B

OSCILLATOR B
0 1 2 50
LO FREQ KYBD
0 3

SHAPE NORM OFF


-12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100
FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH

OSC B is basically the same as OSC A – without SYNC but with the following extras:
TRIANGLE SHAPE switch: This waveform is bipolar, so it doesn’t add any DC to the modula-
tion when used as an LFO. As an audio signal, the triangle has very little bite, but can be used
to boost the fundamental frequency. The triangle is also good for driving the wavefolder effect
(see EFFECTS chapter).
NORM | LO FREQ switch: Extends the range of oscillator B down to sub-audio frequencies
suitable for use as an LFO. Note that the FREQUENCY range is 4 times greater than in NORM
mode.
KYBD | OFF switch: Switching this to OFF disables keyboard follow, resulting in a constant
pitch independent of the played note.

3-4 GLIDE & MODE

GLIDE MODE
50
AUTO RETRIG REPEAT DRONE

NORM NORM OFF OFF


0 100
RATE

Also known as ‘portamento’, glide is the slurring of pitch between consecutive notes.
RATE knob: How long it takes to move from one note to the next. At zero, pitch changes are
instantaneous, while they are very slow at values above 50.
AUTO switch: In the NORM position, all notes will glide. In the AUTO position, this only hap-
pens when a new key is hit while the previous one is still being held (legato).
RETRIG switch: In the NORM position, legato playing does not retrigger envelopes. In the
RETRIG position, the envelopes are retriggered with each new note.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 22
REPEAT switch: Retriggers the envelopes at the rate of either the LFO or the Clock, depending
on the state of the LFO|KEY|CLOCK switch. Like in the hardware and in DRONE mode, notes
repeat without you having to hold down a key…
DRONE switch: Keeps the AMP ENVELOPE sustaining indefinitely.

3-5 MIXER
MIXER
50 50 50
FEEDB

NOISE
0 100 0 100 0 100
OSC A OSC B

OSC A and OSC B knobs: The output levels of each oscillator.


FEEDB | NOISE knob and switch: With the switch in the NOISE position, the knob sets the
output level of the noise generator (an unpitched audio source useful for wind and percussion
effects etc.). With the switch in the FEEDB (feedback) position, the knob governs the amount
of signal fed from behind the amplifier back into the MIXER (use this for e.g. bass boost).

3-6 FILTER
FILTER
50 50 50 50

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100


CUTOFF RESONANCE ENVELOPE KEYBOARD
AMOUNT AMOUNT

CUTOFF knob: Sets the cutoff frequency for the 24 db/octave (4-pole) lowpass filter, which
works a bit like a tone control. The “Cutoff” point is the frequency below which all compo-
nents of a signal are allowed to pass, while most of the higher frequency components are sup-
pressed.
RESONANCE knob: Determines the amount of feedback within the filter circuit. The higher
the resonance, the more the cutoff point will be accentuated. Somewhere above 60 the filter
starts to self-oscillate – it becomes a sine-wave oscillator with pitch determined by the cutoff.
Note that adding Resonance tends to lower the volume, in which case you should compensate
by e.g. turning up the main OUTPUT.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 23
ENVELOPE AMOUNT knob: Adjusts the amount of cutoff modulation from the filter envelope
(see below).
KEYBOARD AMOUNT knob: The amount of cutoff modulation from the keyboard – the high-
er the note, the higher the cutoff. Set to precisely 75.00, cutoff follows notes almost perfectly.

3-7 FILTER ENVELOPE


The filter envelope generator applies a contour to the cutoff frequency:

LEVEL

FILTER
ENVELOPE
AMOUNT
OR
AMPLIFIER SUSTAIN
VOLUME LEVEL TIME

ATTACK TIME DECAY TIME RELEASE


TIME

NOTE ON KEY HELD DOWN NOTE OFF

The envelopes are started whenever a note is played, and as long as the key is held down, the
envelope proceeds through the ATTACK and DECAY stages. It then remains at the SUSTAIN
level until the key is released, after which it drops to zero at a rate set by the RELEASE knob.
Note: The RELEASE stage is initiated as soon as all keys are released. If this happens during
the ATTACK or DECAY, there is no SUSTAIN stage.

FILTER ENVELOPE
50 50 50 50

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100


ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

ATTACK knob: Varies the time for the envelope to rise from zero to maximum, within a range
of 2 milliseconds to longer than 6 seconds.
DECAY knob: Varies the time for the envelope to fall from maximum to the SUSTAIN level,
also within a range of 2 milliseconds to more than 6 seconds.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 24
SUSTAIN knob: The “hold” level, from zero to maximum. An interesting detail: While being
adjusted, SUSTAIN always decays to the new level – the longer the DECAY, the longer it takes
to reach the new SUSTAIN setting.
RELEASE knob: The time it takes to fall from the current level (usually SUSTAIN) down to
zero after the key is released. The range is 2 ms to longer than 6 seconds.
Velocity Trimmer: The control between SUSTAIN and RELEASE effectively multiplies ENVE-
LOPE AMOUNT (see above) with note velocity. If the trimmer is set to maximum, minimum
velocity will reduce the amount of modulation to zero.

3-8 AMP ENVELOPE


The AMP ENVELOPE controls shape the envelope applied to volume, pre-effects.

AMP ENVELOPE
50 50 50 50

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100


ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

Volume Curve trimmer: In the original hardware, the VOLUME knob controls how much amp
envelope modulates the final VCA. It also affects the envelope curvature – not by design, but
as a side-effect of how it works. As Repro-1’s equivalent OUTPUT knob comes after all effects,
the only way to implement this quirk was as a separate control – the trimmer between DECAY
and SUSTAIN.
Here is how the attack and decay stages appear when Volume Curve is set to zero and 100.
Note the punchy s-curve and shorter decay at minimum Volume Curve:

with trimmer set to minimum with trimmer set to maximum

Velocity Trimmer: The trimmer between SUSTAIN and RELEASE adjusts the amount of veloc-
ity modulation for the amp envelope. When set to maximum, minimum MIDI velocity will re-
duce the envelope level to zero i.e. silence.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 25
3-9 LFO
Two of the modulation sources – the filter envelope generator and oscillator B – are described
above. The third source is the Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO):

LFO
50 HOST
SYNC

0 100 RATE SHAPE

CLOCK | RATE switch: When set to CLOCK, the LFO follows the Clock setting (see page 26).
The RATE option here allows LFO speed to be freely adjustable via the RATE knob…
RATE knob: Adjusts LFO speed within a range of about 0.1Hz to 30Hz.
SHAPE switches: The same options as in OSC B except that the LFO’s pulse width is fixed at
50%. Remember that you can add the shapes here e.g. SAW + SQUARE.

3-10 MODULATION SECTION


Repro-1 offers three modulation sources which can be mixed and routed through two different
paths to five modulation targets:
FROM MODULATION TO

FILTER ENVELOPE WH OSCILLATOR A


MOD F-ENV WHEEL OFF
DIR

OSCA FREQ
DIRECT
AMOUNT FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH

WH

DIR

OSCA PW
MOD WHEEL

OSCILLATOR B OSCILLATOR B
MOD OSC B WHEEL WH

DIR
SHAPE DIRECT OSCB FREQ FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH
AMOUNT

WH

DIR

OSCB PW
LFO FILTER
MOD LFO
WHEEL

WH

SHAPE CUTOFF
DIRECT DIR
AMOUNT
FILTER CUT

Figure 2-10
MODULATION SIGNAL FLOW

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 26
This panel is the one most likely to confuse beginners. After a few hours practice, however, it
should become second nature – especially if you repeat this mantra:

“ 3 sources via 2 paths to 5 destinations ”

MOD FIL ENV TO


50
WHEEL WH
OFF
DIR

DIRECT OSC A FREQ


0 100
AMOUNT WH
OFF

MOD OSC B DIR

OSC A PW
50
WHEEL
WH
OFF
DIR
DIRECT
0 100 OSC B FREQ
AMOUNT
WH
OFF
MOD LFO
DIR
50
WHEEL OSC B PW

WH
OFF
DIRECT DIR
0 100
AMOUNT FILTER CUT

MOD FIL ENV, MOD OSC B and MOD LFO knobs: The amount of modulation mixed into the
WHEEL or DIRECT paths. The depth of modulation routed into the WHEEL path is controlled
by the modulation wheel (MIDI CC#01).
WHEEL | DIRECT switches: These route each of the 3 sources into one of two busses: the so-
called WHEEL or DIRECT paths.
OSC A FREQ, OSC A PW, OSC B FREQ, OSC B PW, and FILTER switches: The vertical row of
switches select either the WHEEL or DIRECT path for each destination.
Note: In the original hardware the signal at each PW input gets inverted – when the modulat-
ing signal goes up, the pulse width goes down. We decided to keep this quirk, so if you want
to compensate for deep modulation by adjusting PULSE WIDTH, you need to compensate in
what seems to be the wrong direction!

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 27
Modulation Section – Practical Examples

LFO vibrato via modulation wheel


Load the -INIT- preset and turn OSC B down to minimum in the MIXER
section. Turn MOD LFO amount in the modulation section up to about
20% and switch its output to the WHEEL bus. In the TO column, select
WH (wheel) as modulation input for OSC A FREQ (the uppermost
switch). In the LFO panel, adjust the RATE knob to about 75.
We now have vibrato via mod wheel – try it. Lets add something else...
Sync sweep
Switch oscillator A SYNC on. Push the mod wheel – vibrato has become
oddly shallow because oscillator A is “trying” to adopt the same pitch as
oscillator B. In the TO column, select WH (wheel) as input for OSC B
FREQ (the central switch). Vibrato is now back to normal.
Turn MOD FIL ENV amount up to maximum. The MOD FILE ENV output
is set to the DIRECT bus, which is what we want here. Now switch OSC
A FREQ source to DIR (direct). Turn the filter envelope SUSTAIN level
down to minimum and increase the DECAY until the sweep effect
sounds good.

LFO pulse width modulation (PWM)


Click on the data display and reload -INIT-. In the MIXER section, turn
OSC B down to minimum. In oscillator A, switch the sawtooth off and
the pulse on. Turn MOD LFO amount up to maximum. Its output is al-
ready set to the DIRECT bus – in the TO column, select DIR as modula-
tion input for OSC A PW (the second switch from the top)…
Filter-FM
Turn MOD OSC B up to maximum and route it to WHEEL. In the TO
column, select WH as modulation input for FILTER (the bottom switch).
In the FILTER section, turn CUTOFF down to about 50. Push your mod-
ulation wheel and experiment with all the controls in oscillator B.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 28
3-11 CLOCK
So that the LFO, arpeggiator and sequencer can be synchronized, we need a ‘clock’…

CLOCK

1/4
1/1

1/16

8/1 1/64

This little panel contains a single rotary switch which sets the clock speed relative to host
tempo, plus an indicator. All values are expressed as 4/4 bar divisions from 8/1 (slowest) to
1/64 (fastest).

The trip options are triplets (3 in the space of 2) and the dot options are dotted (2 in the
space of 3 i.e. 50% longer than normal):

dotted

normal

triplets

The order of values may appear strange at first (e.g. 1/4 then 1/8 dot then 1/4 trip), but you
can rest assured that they have been sorted according to length.

3-12 ARP / SEQUENCER (basic access)


An arpeggiator plays back all held notes, one after the other.

ARP SEQUENCER

LFO UP LATCH REC A+B

KEY OFF OFF B

OFF REST
CLOCK UP/ PLAY A
DOWN

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 29
LFO | KEY | CLOCK switch: This switch selects which signal will be used to drive the arpeg-
giator, sequencer and REPEAT function. In the CLOCK position they are all synchronized to
host tempo via the CLOCK parameter (see the previous page), while in the LFO position they
are synchronized to the LFO. With the KEY option, the sequence is played back one note per
key-press (see Design decisions below).

UP | OFF | UP/DOWN switch: Activates the arpeggiator, either upwards only or upwards fol-
lowed by downwards.

LATCH switch: The LATCH function in the original hardware (mis)used the sequencer memo-
ry. Repro-1 has a dedicated LATCH switch instead – try this:
While you are playing an arpeggio, slide the LATCH switch up. Take your hands off the keys
and try adding some more notes. It will soon become apparent that these notes are temporary –
they disappear as soon as you release them, while the latched notes continue.
Note: The SEQUENCER part of this panel contains just enough elements to let you record and
play back sequences without switching pages. For the complete story, please read the next
chapter.

Design decisions
In the original hardware, the arpeggiator/ sequencer rate is permanently tied to the
LFO, with the option of using an external trigger signal to advance the arp/sequencer
instead. As we don't expect users to feed an external trigger into Repro-1 just for the
sake of authenticity, we decided to add a host-synced CLOCK and use MIDI NoteOn
messages for the ‘step through’ option.

Here’s an interesting quirk: The arpeggiator will not repeatedly trigger a single held note –
you have to play at least two notes for arpeggiation to start!


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 30
4 SEQUENCER

4-0 INTRODUCTION
The sequencer in the original hardware may have been a minor stroke of genius, but these
days we can expect something a bit more comfortable: Repro-1’s sequencer lets you step-record
two patterns of up to 32 notes each (they are saved with the preset):

SEQUENCER

PATTERN 1
8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

STEPS
TYPE

NOTE

VEL

PATTERN 2
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

STEPS
TYPE

NOTE

VEL

ROOT GLIDE LFO CLOCK SEQUENCER EDIT


50 50 1/4
NOTE AUTO HOST LFO ON KEY REC 1+2 PRESET ROTATE CLEAR
1/1
1 1 X
1/16 KEY OFF 2

2 0 100 NORM 0 100 FREE SHAPE 8/1 1/64 ALWAYS REST 2 X


CLOCK PLAY 1
RATE FREQUENCY

How to record: In the SEQUENCER sub-panel, select a pattern (1, 2, or 1+2) and slide REC/
PLAY up to the REC position. Play some notes, inserting pauses by clicking on the REST but-
ton. The pattern can be as short as you like, even a single note – simply switch from RECORD
to PLAY whenever you’re finished.
How a sequence plays back is governed by the Clock settings (see the next page). Playing any
note other than the specified ROOT transposes the pattern up or down.
Host buffer size: Repro-1’s sequencer works best with a buffer size of at least 128 samples
(most DAWs set larger buffer sizes by default). This doesn't mean it won't work with smaller
buffers, but we did experience one or two glitches in certain hosts.

4-1 PATTERN data


A sequence consists of two patterns containing up to 32 steps each.
STEPS selectors: These specify the length of each sequence i.e. the number of steps to play
before returning to step 1. Alternatively, click on one of the indices (1 to 32).
TYPE cells: Either click on a cell or use the mouse wheel to cycle between regular note (a
filled circle), tied note (an arc) or pause (a faint ‘X’). Perhaps unusually, a tied note extends its
gate to the next note, not from the previous one.
NOTE cells: Semitone offsets from -36 (3 octaves down) to +36 (3 octaves up).

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 31
VEL cells: MIDI velocity data, from 1 to 127 (the default is 90). While the sequencer is run-
ning, this data is used instead of any other velocity source (e.g. from notes played on your
keyboard).
ROOT selectors: These define NOTE ‘0’ – the note set here will play the sequence at the same
pitch as it was recorded. A lower ROOT actually transposes the sequence upwards, which is
counterintuitive but logical.
Note: By default, the Root is automatically set to the first recorded note. This can be switched
off – see the Sequencer Root Note option in the Preferences page.

4-2 SEQUENCER control


This panel is the same as the one on the SYNTH page, but without the arpeggiator:

SEQUENCER

LFO ON KEY REC 1+2

KEY OFF 2

ALWAYS REST
CLOCK PLAY 1

LFO | KEY | CLOCK switch: Selects which signal will be used to drive the arpeggiator and se-
quencer. In the CLOCK position they are both synchronized to host tempo, while in the LFO
position they are synchronized to the LFO. With the KEY option, the sequence is played back
one note per key-press.
ON KEY | ALWAYS switch: The ALWAYS option causes the sequence to continue playing even
if all keys are released (simulating a hold pedal). ON KEY stops the sequence as soon as all
keys are released, restarting it when a new key is pressed. Please note that this switch is global
per instance of the plug-in: the status doesn’t change, even when you load a different preset.

REC | OFF | PLAY switch: Primes the sequencer for recording. Recording commences when
you play the next note and stops when you switch to OFF or play. Recording also stops auto-
matically when step 32 has been reached (if the next selector is set to 1+2, it will only stop at
step 32 of pattern 2).

1+2 | 2 | 1 switch: Selects the pattern(s) to be recorded or played back.

REST button: During recording, this inserts a pause at the current step.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 32
4-3 EDIT
This panel gives you some tools with which you can manipulate the pattern data…

EDIT

PRESET ROTATE CLEAR

1 none X

2 none X

PRESET selectors: Click to open a menu containing pattern Copy and Save functions, as well
as any sequencer patterns Repro-1 finds in the following location:
Win ...\VstPlugins\u-he\Repro-1.data\Support\Modules\Pattern

Mac MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Repro-1/Modules/Pattern

ROTATE buttons: This pair of buttons shifts the active portion of the sequence to the left or
right. If, after listening for a while, step 1 doesn’t seem to be the ‘first note’, you can use the
Rotate buttons to fix that problem. Tip: Create new variations by rotating parts of existing se-
quences.

COPY and PASTE buttons: Clipboard functions for each pattern. Note that you can copy from
one preset and paste into another.

CLEAR buttons: Deletes all data in the pattern and sets the current step to the start.

4-4 A FEW TRICKS


Start a sequence that contains ties as well as rests, then go to the SYNTH page and try per-
forming with your sequence using only the MODE switches:

Switching on RETRIGGER transforms ties into regular notes.

Switching on REPEAT effectively removes rests. It doesn’t use the pitch data, however, but re-
peats the pitch of the note immediately preceding the rest.

Switching on DRONE will lengthen the notes if amplifier Sustain is turned up, or the Decay
time is longer than the Release time. Experiment!


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 33
5 KEYS / PERFORM

The pair of vertical buttons on the bottom left select either the EFFECTS view or the KEYS
view (which also includes a little modulation matrix called PERFORM - see the next page):

GATE PERFORM
PB RANGE
KEYS

Q S+H SL
+
VELOCITY

Q S+H SL
BYPASS FX PITCH MOD AFTERTOUCH

5-0 KEYS
Between those vertical buttons and the keyboard are a few typical ‘left-hand controls’…
PB RANGE selectors: You can choose pitchbend ranges separately for each direction (down
and up). The options are 0 through 24 (2 octaves in semitone steps) then 3 or 4 octaves (36 or
48 semitones).
BYPASS FX switch: Below PB RANGE is an effects bypass button you should find useful for
comparing the treated and untreated sound. Please note that BYPASS FX is truly global: the
status doesn’t change, even when you load a different preset.
PITCH and MODW: The two on-screen wheels mirror incoming MIDI data, but you can also
move them with the mouse.
Keyboard: Most of the panel is taken up by a 3-octave touchplate-style keyboard (the same
range as the original synth) you can click on to fire off notes. Double-click on a key to sustain
it until you click on another.
A note to users of 3-octave MIDI keyboards: You might have to transpose your keyboard
down an octave to match the range of Repro-1’s touchplate.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 34
5-1 PERFORM
To the right of the keyboard in KEYS view is a little modulation matrix you can use to extend
Repro-1’s modulation capabilities…

PERFORM
none

Q S+H SL

Velocity
– +

To select a source, click on the label below each target selector (i.e. where it says VELOCITY
in this image). Note that the list of sources includes the Wavefolder’s own envelope.
Right-clicking on a target selector (where it says “none” in the image) opens a menu where
you can choose a destination for that modulation source. Effect parameters only appear in the
menu if the corresponding effect is currently active.
Drag & Drop is a comfortable alternative (but not for effect parameters, as these aren’t visible
in KEYS view). Left-click on the target selector, drag the crosshair onto any knob that is a vaild
target and release the mouse button.
A few pages down you will find a list of all modulation sources and targets in Repro-1.

Slot Modifiers
Immediately below the target selectors are buttons used for choosing slot modifier options
which process the modulation signal before it reaches the target. From left to right these are:
Curve, Rectify, Quantise, Sample & Hold Trigger (S+H) and Slew Limiter (SL).

Curve
These options let you ‘map’ the modulation source onto an s-curve. A bipolar ramp e.g. from
the LFO or the pitch bender would be directly transformed into one of the following curves,
while a positive unipolar source would only use the upper half of each curve:


very compressed compressed none / linear expanded very expanded

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 35
Rectify
Half-wave or full-wave rectification in positive and negative versions, and unipolarize. The
symbols show how a bipolar ramp wave (like ‘none’ here) would appear after rectification.

none half wave + half wave - full wave + full wave - unipolarize

half wave + removes negative values


half wave - removes positive values
full wave + folds negative values up into the positive
full wave - folds positive values down into the negative
unipolarize shifts the signal to positive-only and halves the range

Quantize
After applying a curve, the modulation signal can be forced to adopt certain discrete values.
The integer setting makes the modulation typically “steppy”. The steps of 12 option transforms
bipolar sources into max. 5 values (unipolar = maximum 3). All other options quantize the
output to scales, so they are mainly useful for pitch control.
overtone series harmonic overtones
minor / major scale natural minor, regular major
minor / major chord chord tones (root, third fifth)
minor / major series third intervals (repeats after two octaves)
fifths and octaves well, it’s fifths and octaves only!
Note: Quantization is applied after modulation depth, so lower depth means fewer steps.

Sample & Hold Trigger (S+H)


Mod Wheel, Pitch Wheel, Control A, Control B, LFO, Gate, Aftertouch or Wavefolder AR.
Whenever the selected signal crosses zero in the positive direction, the modulation source will
be sampled and held i.e. stepped.

Slew Limiter (SL)


Softens transitions in the modulation source. The options are: none, fast, smooth or slow.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 36
Modulation Sources Oscillator B Frequency **
Fine Tune
Mod Wheel Pulse Width
Pitch Wheel
Modulation LFO Amount
Control A (default = Breath i.e. CC #02) Osc B Amount
Control b (default = Expression i.e. CC #11) Filter Env Amount
LFO
Clock Phase Mixer Osc A
Osc B
Trigger
Noise/Feedback
Gate
Key Follow 1 Filter Cutoff
Key Follow 2 (doesn’t include pitch bend) Resonance
Velocity Keyboard Amount
Envelope Amount
Aftertouch
Wavefolder AR Jaws Folds
Filter Envelope Bias
Amp Envelope Fold Mod Depth

Lyrebird Delay Time


Modulation Targets Regeneration
Mix
LFO Frequency – only if the ResQ Bass Frequency
LFO is in RATE mode Bass Gain(EQ)
Bass Vol (Res)
MIDI * Glide Mid Frequency
Master Tune Mid Gain (EQ)
Mid Vol (Res)
Filter Envelope Attack High Frequency
Decay High Gain (EQ)
Sustain High Vol (Res)
Release Q/Resonance

Amplitude Envelope Attack Drench Pre-Delay


Decay Decay
Sustain Tone
Release Dry/Wet Mix

Oscillator A Frequency ** Sonic Conditioner Gain


Fine Tune Stereo Width
Pulse Width Transient

* There is a good technical reason for the MIDI label (which perhaps should read ‘Tuning’)
** Restricted to the FREQUENCY range, also for technical reasons


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 37
6 EFFECTS

6-0 INTRODUCTION

The buttons on the far left of the lower panel toggle between the keyboard and the effects.

PB RANGE WAVEFOLDER DELAY RESONATOR/EQUALIZER REVERB LIMITER


4 MAX
6
2 MED RES
MIN EQ
+ 0 OFF
MODE
FOLDS TEATH BIAS F-MOD TIME MIX LOW MID HIGH PRE DELAY DECAY GAIN
EFFECTS

GROOVE MAX
LFO SWING MED
AR PPONG MIN
ASR ECHO OFF
BYPASS FX FX CHAIN F-MOD A R TRIGGER MODE MODULATION REGEN --- --- --- Q/RES TONE DRY/WET TRANSIENT WIDTH

Click on the EFFECTS button for this view:

BYPASS FX
This is an effects bypass button you should find useful for comparing the treated and untreat-
ed sound. Please note that BYPASS FX is truly global: the status doesn’t change, even when
you load a different preset.

FX Chain
The block on the left is used for activating and ordering effects. The signal flows from the top
of the block to bottom. Click to enable/disable effects, click and drag up or down to change
the order. Tip: Placing LYREBIRD above JAWS can get… interesting!

6-1 JAWS wavefolder


Hardware wavefolders have become popular in larger modular systems, especially amongst
West Coast fans. A special kind of waveshaper, the wavefolder literally folds the waveform

WAVEFOLDER

MAX
MED
MIN
OFF

FOLDS TEETH BIAS B-MOD

LFO
AR
ASR

F-MOD A R TRIGGER

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 38
With its set of novel features, however, JAWS has no real world counterpart: Firstly, it includes
an envelope to modulate the number of folds and an LFO to modulate the bias out-of-phase
per audio channel (which results in a unique stereo effect). Secondly, JAWS can serve as a
simple distortion unit by setting TEETH (the number of available folds) to zero. Here is a typi-
cal wavefolder setting:

6 TEETH, about 25% FOLDS (the solid line) with some positive BIAS (shifted to the right)

FOLDS knob: How much of the wavefolder curve is being used. This is effectively an input
volume control, so setting FOLDS and F-MOD both to zero will result in silence.
TEETH rotary switch: Sets the total number of folds in the wavefolder. Zero here means sim-
ple distortion, while 2 to 6 deliver more typical wavefolder effects.
BIAS knob: If B-MOD is OFF, this knob shifts the part of the wavefolder curve being used. If B-
MOD is either MIN, MED or MAX, it adjusts the depth of modulation from the wavefolder’s
own LFO – in opposite directions for each stereo channel, hence the stereo effect. Note that
the stereo effect is not monosum-compatible, and that extreme BIAS settings can result in si-
lence anyway, especially if FOLDS is set relatively low.
B-MOD switch: Bias modulation LFO rate. Setting this to OFF disables the LFO.
F-MOD knob: The depth of folds modulation from the wavefolder’s own envelope…
A and R knobs: Attack and Release times for the wavefolder envelope.
TRIGGER switch: Determines how the envelope reacts, with the following 3 options: ASR
stands for attack-sustain-release – the envelope proceeds through the attack stage and stays at
maximum as long as a note is held, after which it releases. AR is a one-shot attack-release en-
velope with no sustain. Finally, the LFO option is similar to AR but is triggered by Repro-1’s
main LFO instead of the gate.
Tip: In general, wavefolders deliver more interesting effects when applied to relatively simple
waveforms e.g. a pure triangle from oscillator B, a sine wave from the filter when self-resonat-
ing, or any other mellow sound.
Note: The sound of the Wavefolder is sensitive to minuscule differences in signal level and
phase between the various sample rates. If you notice that your JAWS-based preset sounds
very different when you switch sample rates, try adjusting the FOLDS settings to compensate,
then save as “name-of-preset (96k)” or similar.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 39
6-2 LYREBIRD delay

Sync 16th
Clean
TIME MIX

GROOVE MAX
SWING MED
PPONG MIN
ECHO OFF

MODE MODULATION REGEN

Lyrebird models an analogue (bucket brigade type) delay, capable of unsynchronized effects
anywhere between flanging (i.e. modulated, very short delays) and 2 seconds, or host-tempo-
relative delays between 1/16 and 8/1. In either mode, the delay time can be continuously
fine-tuned.
Sync (upper selector): Chorus/Short, Unsync/Long, Sync 1/16 or Sync 1/4. The first two op-
tions are absolute times, not relative to host tempo. As the name implies, the Chorus/Short op-
tion sounds especially rich with plenty of modulation (see below). Unsync/Long is usually the
best choice for larger spaces and non-rhythmic effects.
Flavour (lower selector): Three different tonal characteristics for the decaying effect (Clean,
Bright or Dark). Try them all out and compare results.
MODE switch: Affects the ratio between delays in the left and right channels: Echo has equal
delay times in both channels (so the effect is monophonic unless modulated). Pingpong alter-
nates evenly between the left and right channels, Swing creates triplets and Groove does dot-
ted times.
MODULATION switch: Time modulation LFO rate. Switching to OFF disables the LFO.
TIME knob: Scales the Delay Sync value. For the synchronized delays this is literally a 1 to 8
multiplier, while for unsynchronized delays the range is much wider. Tip: Try turning REGEN
up and modulating TIME – the pitch glides very smoothly, just like a real analogue or tape de-
lay unit.
MIX knob: The volume ratio between unprocessed and processed signal.
REGEN knob: Regeneration determines how much of the processed signal is fed back into
Lyrebird’s input. At maximum, the feedback lasts longer than you will ever need!


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 40
6-3 RESQ resonator / equalizer
Depending on the status of the MODE switch, RESQ is either a semi-parametric EQ with two
shelving filters surrounding a midrange band, or a triple bandpass resonator:

FREQUENCY FREQUENCY

RES RES
EQ EQ

MODE MODE
LOW MID HIGH LOW MID HIGH

Q / RES Q / RES

The FREQUENCY knobs adjust the cutoff for each band. The bands can seriously overlap or
swap positions, so those labels shouldn’t be taken too literally. The ranges of the knobs are ap-
proximately as follows:
LOW = 45 Hz to 3 kHz

MID = 55 Hz to 9 kHz

HIGH = 130 Hz to 10 kHz
GAIN knobs (EQ mode): Centre-zero controls for cutting or boosting the level of each band by
up to 18dB. In EQ mode, LOW and HIGH are shelving filters (as indicated by the labels).
VOLUME knobs (RES mode): The amplitudes of three resonant bandpass filters. The knobs
are not centre-zero in RES mode, but positive only.
Q (quality) / RES (resonance) knob: The Q-factor of a filter band characterizes its width rela-
tive to its cutoff frequency. In EQ mode, Q only applies to the MID band.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 41
6-4 DRENCH reverb
A typical lush plate reverb, but with pre-delay.

PRE DELAY DECAY

TONE DRY / WET

DRY/WET knob: The amount of reverb signal as a percentage of the total output.
PRE DELAY knob: A single delay before the reverberation appears. This is especially useful for
retaining the presence of the dry signal while simulating larger spaces. Conversely, leave this
at zero if you want your preset to sound further away.
DECAY knob: The length of the reverb tail. At the maximum setting, it can take several min-
utes for the decay to reach absolute silence!
TONE knob: A tilt filter, from very dark at -100 to very bright at +100. Simulates the
softness / hardness of surfaces. Note: At those extremes, the wet signal almost (but not quite)
disappears.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 42
6-5 SONIC CONDITIONER
Is the signal too loud or too soft? Is the stereo too extreme? Is your bass sequence too clicky,
or does it lack punch? Then you should try the SONIC CONDITIONER…

GAIN

TRANSIENT WIDTH

On the top right is a load indicator which gets brighter as the signal is saturated.
GAIN knob: Bipolar control for the output level. Settings above zero (the centre) will saturate
the signal – a useful effect in its own right. You can compensate for high GAIN by turning Re-
pro-1’s main OUTPUT level down.
TRANSIENT knob: Bipolar control over the percussive elements within a signal. Try setting
negative values to reduce clicks or positive values to add punch.
WIDTH knob: A stereo spread control. Especially useful for keeping delay or bias- modulated
wavefolder effects more focussed in the centre of the stereo field.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 43
7 TWEAKS

7-0 OVERVIEW
Apart from being unashamed eye-candy, the TWEAKS page is there to let you change the fun-
damental behaviour of individual modules. In the current version there are 5 user-adjustable
jumpers (mini circuit connectors) and 5 module tweak selectors:

Oscillator Microtuning Keyfollow Filter


Presets Presets key / key+pb Presets
Microtuning Filter Env
on / off invert

LFO LFO OSC2 Note Priority Envelope


invert / normal DC / no DC saw / inverse saw low / high / last Presets

Although the knobs and switches do actually work, the labeling has been kept simple (or even
cryptic) on purpose, in keeping with the ‘circuit board’ theme…
The TWEAKS page is meant to be eye-candy!

7-1 JUMPERS
LFO inversion: In the N (normal) position the LFO is a rising sawtooth, just like the audio os-
cillators, while in the INV position it is a falling sawtooth. The new option is arguably more
useful than the original.
LFO DC offset: With the jumper in the DC position, the square and saw waves are positive-
only (unipolar). The NO DC option makes them bipolar. The LFO triangle is always bipolar,
with just a little DC offset when the jumper is in the DC position.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 44
OSC2 saw inversion: With the jumper in the INV position, the sawtooth is inverted i.e. it be-
comes a regular sawtooth instead of the original ramp wave.
Microtuning on/off: Activate/deactivate the selected microtuning table (see below).
Note priority: This jumper sets how Repro-1 reacts when you play more than one note at a
time. LOW plays the lowest note (like the original hardware as well as other USA-designs),
HIGH plays the highest note (EMS and most Japanese synths), LAST plays the most recent
note (modern, typical of digitally controlled synths).
Key Tracking Source: With this jumper in the KEY+PB position, cutoff also tracks the pitch
bender (PB).

7-2 SELECTORS
Apart from the jumpers, the TWEAK page includes 5 selectors – one for each oscillator, one for
the filter and one for each envelope. Use these to change those fundamental characteristics of
Repro-1 that would have been “overkill” on the main SYNTH page. Here’s what we have:

Oscillator tweaks
Both ‘P’ options are warmer than the standard Ideal. The most obvious difference between P1
and P5 is that the P5 pulse is inverted (that’s why P5 is much louder than P1 if you use Saw
and Pulse simultaneously). A less obvious difference is that OSC A in P1 mode always retains
some of the fundamental frequency when SYNC is on.
A disadvantage of P5 is that self-PWM of oscillator B simply doesn't work. You already guessed
that ‘P5’ was named after a closely related polyphonic synthesizer, right?
Finally, only available in OSC B: the Bottom option emphasizes the TRIANGLE shape.

Microtuning
Repro-1 supports standard .TUN microtuning tables, and you will find several of these files in
the list. Many more tables are available online, most of them free. The .tun files belong in the
following folder on your hard drive:
Win C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\Tunefiles\
Mac Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Tunefiles/
…or equivalent locations in accordance with your VST and Repro-1 installation paths.
Just like in the main browser you can right-click on any .tun file and select Show in Finder/
Explorer. To close the microtuning browser again, click on the [CLOSE] button at the top right.
New in version 1.1.2 – MTS-ESP
Repro-1 now supports Oddsound MTS-ESP, a system for microtuning multiple plug-ins within
a DAW environment. The freeware ‘Mini’ version is all you need to get started. MTS-ESP can
be overridden by activating Repro-1's microtuning, for instance with the .tun file Default Scale.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 45
Filter tweaks
Crispy: This is an accurate model of the filter in one of the hardware synths we bought espe-
cially for Repro-1 analysis. It is relatively clear and bright.
Rounded: An accurate model of the filter in the other hardware synth we bought especially for
Repro-1 analysis! Most obviously, the cutoff in Rounded is a few semitones lower than Crispy,
and there are also significant differences in the resonance behaviour
Driven: This model is the result of balancing internal filter parameters in search of a novel
3320 flavour – we like it!
Poly: An approximation of the filters in a related polysynth. In this model, cutoff doesn’t reach
maximum unless modulated upwards e.g. by the filter envelope.

Envelope tweaks
Normal: Regular old ADSR.
High Sustain: Models an interesting fault (or is it a quirk?) in some versions of the original
hardware: the end of the ATTACK doesn’t quite reach SUSTAIN levels above about 85 – the
envelope simply jumps up the last 15%.
One Shot: The gate is ignored, the Decay stage continues until it reaches the sustain level,
which is immediately followed by Release. This type of envelope is particularly suitable for
percussion sounds, fly-by effects etc..
Piano 1/2: These two modes were implemented according to a rather geeky article in the
magazine Electronics and Music Maker (affectionately known as E&MM) all about the CEM
3310 envelope chip. In both Piano modes the Attack and Decay stages are the same as in One
Shot mode. However, if the key is lifted during the Release stage there is an extra (true) re-
lease, which is longer in Piano 1 than in Piano 2 mode.
Tip: As the Attack and Decay stages are always completed, you can make an envelope appear
to hold for a while before it releases!


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 46
8 CONFIGURATION

The cogwheel at the top right opens the global configuration pages. This is where you can ad-
just Repro-1’s appearance and performance or connect Repro-1 parameters to MIDI controls:

MIDI LEARN MIDI TABLE PREFERENCES X


You can specify which particular page (e.g. PREFERENCES) will open whenever you click on
the configuration button: Right-click anywhere in this row and select set current as default.

8-1 ABOUT MIDI CC


CC, which now officially stands for Control Change (no longer Continuous Controller) is a
multi-purpose message format used for editing and performing presets. CC isn’t the only kind
of MIDI performance data. For instance, there are different messages for note on/off (includ-
ing velocity), pitch bend and two kinds of aftertouch.
Although the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) was kind enough to leave most of the
128 CC numbers undefined, two have specific meanings that Repro-1 also recognizes:
01 = modulation wheel
64 = sustain pedal
Repro-1 version 1.0 also offered the performance modulation sources Breath (CC 02) and Ex-
pression (CC 11). These have been replaced by the user-definable Control A and Control B. See
section 8-4 PREFERENCES.
By the way: You don’t actually need a breath controller (for instance) or an expression pedal
to make use of CC messages. Most of the names are purely convention these days. You can use
anything that can send a definable CC e.g. a couple of knobs on your MIDI keyboard or a con-
troller lane in your MIDI sequencer.
Later MMA revisions to the MIDI spec even included a bunch of esoteric CC definitions such as
‘Celeste Detune Depth‘, probably at the request of a home organ manufacturer or two. We can
safely ignore all such definitions!

8-2 MIDI LEARN


The MIDI LEARN page is where you can connect MIDI CC (see above) to almost any Repro-1
parameters. The MIDI data can be generated by adjusting the knobs or faders on a hardware
controller, for instance, or by a track in your sequencer.
Learnable elements appear as selectable outlines. Controls that are already connected appear
filled, while the outline of the control waiting to be MIDI-learned is highlighted white.
Try it: Click on the Cutoff knob (it is then highlighted) and send Repro-1 some MIDI CC data
by adjusting a knob or fader on your MIDI controller. To remove the assignment, double-click
on that same control or go to the MIDI Table (see below).
Note: You can access all parameters without exiting MIDI LEARN. Simply switch between the
SYNTH, TWEAKS and SEQUENCER pages, or between the KEYS and EFFECTS.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 47
8-3 MIDI TABLE
To open an editable list of all current MIDI CC assignments, click on the cogwheel button and
select MIDI TABLE.
Parameter: The first field displays/selects one of Repro-1’s parameters, sorted into sub-menus
according to module. Click on the ‘ADD’ button at the bottom left and experiment with this
field, then delete the assignment again by clicking on the small [X] to the right of the line you
just created.
Channel / Controller: The next two fields are for the MIDI channel and CC number. Repro-1
is channel-sensitive – you can map up to 16 channels for a total of… well, more than enough
assignments for Repro-1.
Mode: Specifies the range and/or resolution of values.
Normal ......................full range, continuous
Integer ....................... full range, whole numbers only
Fine ........................... 0.01 steps between the integers closest to the current value
Type: Specifies the type of hardware (by far the most common is Continuous 7-bit).
Encoder 127 .............. ‘relative mode’ endless rotary controls that repeatedly send the CC value
1 when turned in the positive direction, or 127 (interpreted as -1) when
turned in the negative direction
Encoder 64 ................‘relative mode’ endless rotary controls that repeatedly send the CC value
65 when turned up, or 63 when turned down
Continuous 7-bit ........ 7-bit MIDI CC (normal resolution, very common)
Continuous 14-bit ...... 14-bit MIDI CC (high resolution, less common)
Removing assignments: The small [x] to the right of each line removes that assignment. The
MIDI table can be cleared by clicking on the [Delete All] button at the bottom of the window.
Experimental feature: Click on Add. At the very bottom of the Parameter menu you will see
two options called Last Clicked Control and Last Clicked Control Fine…
Select Last Clicked Control, enter a suitable controller (MIDI CC) and exit the configuration
pages. The most recently clicked knob/switch will now respond to that CC. The Fine option is
similar, but with a significantly reduced range.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 48
8-4 PREFERENCES
To see the following options, click on the cogwheel icon at the top right of Repro-1‘s window
and select the PREFERENCES tab.

CONTROLS
Mouse Wheel Raster: If your mouse wheel is rastered (it clicks as you roll the wheel), set this
option ‘on’ so that each little click increments the value in ‘sensible’ steps.
Scroll Horizontal: Any preset folders that contain more files than can be displayed in the
window can be scrolled pagewise via mousewheel etc.. Opinions differed as to which wheel
direction should move to the bottom of the list, so we made this optional!
Switch behaviour: You can usually change the status of linear switches by clicking on the tar-
get position. The drag option lets you drag switches up/down while toggle lets you click any-
where on 2-way switches. The iterate option is like toggle except that it also applies to 3 and 4-
way switches, with the downside that clicking on the target position no longer works. Note:
Switches always respond to rolling the mouse wheel just like the knobs – no clicks required!

APPEARANCE
Default Size: The GUI size for each new instance of the plug-in.
Default Skin: This option will only appear if Repro-1 finds at least one alternative skin when
it loads. Change this option to set the global default.
Gamma: Adjusts the overall brightness of the Repro-1 window.
Text Antialiasing: Turns the smoothing of labels and values on or off. Usually left on!

PRESETS
Auto versioning: If this option is switched on, an index is appended to the preset name and
automatically incremented each time you save it. For instance, saving ‘Space’ three times in a
row would give you three files: ‘Space’, ‘Space 2’ and ‘Space 3’.
Save Presets To: Choosing user folder here causes all saved presets to land in the User folder
instead of the currently selected one.
Scan On Startup: Whether the preset library should be scanned and the database recreated
when the first instance of Repro-1 is started, e.g. when you reopen a project.

OTHERS
Base Latency: Only disable this if you are absolutely sure that your audio system – hardware
as well as software – uses buffers that are a multiple of 16 samples. Otherwise you should
leave it at the default ‘16 samples’. This setting only takes effect when the host allows e.g. on
playback, after switching sample rates, or after reloading Repro-5. See the information box on
the next page “About the Repro-1 Buffers”.
Control A/B Default: The list of modulation sources in the previous versions of Repro-1 in-
cluded the fixed MIDI control sources Breath (CC#02) and Xpress (expression pedal, CC#11).
While retaining backwards compatibility, we replaced them with the user-definable Control A
and Control B performance sources, with Breath and Expression set as the defaults.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 49
HQ default: Set whether HQ should be on for each new instance of the plug-in. High Quality
is seldom necessary – you can save a significant amount of CPU if you leave this switched off.
MIDI Control Slew: Adjusts the amount of ‘smoothing’ for Pitch Bend, Modulation Wheel,
Control A, Control B and Aftertouch. While set to Off, Repro-1 responds more quickly to mod-
ulation wheel (for instance), but might become too grainy for your tastes. The Fast setting is a
good compromise between response and smoothness.
Sequencer Root Note: The default auto option here sets the pattern’s Root to the first note
you record. If you prefer setting the Root Note manually, select that option.
Sleepy default: Set whether Sleepy should be on for each new instance of the plug-in. See the
zZz button in section 1-4 CONTROL BAR.


ABOUT THE REPRO-1 BUFFERS


Repro-1 processes audio in chunks of n x 16 samples. This block processing method
significantly reduces the CPU load and memory usage of all our plug-ins.
If the number of samples to be processed is e.g. 41, Repro-1 processes the first 32
and keeps the remaining 9 in a small buffer (16 samples is large enough). Those 9
samples are then processed at the start of the next call… and so on.
The extra buffer is only necessary if either the host or audio driver processes ‘un-
usual’ buffer sizes. If your host application processes buffers of e.g. 64, 128, 256 or
512 samples (these are all multiples of 16), try setting Base Latency to off so that
Repro-1 can process latency-free.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 50
www.u-he.com PRESET

-12 +12 0 200


MASTERTUNE OUTPUT

MODFIL ENV TO OSCILLATORA MIXER FILTER


50 0 1 2 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
WHEEL WH 0 3 SYNC FEEDB
OFF
DIR
OSCA FREQ
DIRECT SHAPE OFF NOISE
0 100 -12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
AMOUNT WH FREQUENCY PULSEWIDTH OSCA OSCB CUTOFF RESONANCE ENVELOPE KEYBOARD
OFF AMOUNT AMOUNT
DIR
MODOSCB OSCILLATORB GLIDE MODE FILTERENVELOPE
OSCA PW
50 0 1 2 50 50 50 50 50 50
WHEEL 0 3 LOFREQ KYBD AUTO RETRIG REPEAT DRONE
WH
OFF
DIR
DIRECT SHAPE NORM OFF NORM OFF OFF
0 100 OSCB FREQ -12 +12 OCTAVE 0 100 0 100 NORM 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
AMOUNT FREQUENCY PULSEWIDTH RATE ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE
WH
MODLFO OFF LFO CLOCK ARP SEQUENCER AMP ENVELOPE
DIR
50 50 HOST 1/4
50 50 50 50
WHEEL OSCB PW SYNC LFO UP LATCH REC 1+2
1/1

WH 1/16 KEY OFF OFF 2


OFF
DIRECT DIR RATE SHAPE 8/1 1/64 OFF REST
0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100
CLOCK UP/ PLAY 1
AMOUNT FILTER DOWN ATTACK DECAY SUSTAIN RELEASE

NOTE PERFORM 1

– +

PERFORM 2

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS
– +

51
9 NKS

Repro-1 supports Native Instruments (NI) NKS extensions for VST2. All Windows audio plug-
in hosts and certain macOS hosts can load VST2.
This means that Repro-1 can be integrated into the Komplete Kontrol software or Maschine
environments: As well as the u-he cross-platform h2p formats, you can also install the factory
presets as tagged .nksf files. In the VST2 version only, nksf also appears in the context menu of
the [SAVE] button.
As we wanted to keep them synth-specific, the Category options (see PRESET BROWSER) dif-
fer from the Komplete Kontrol / Maschine Type tags. During conversion to NKS (see below)
Repro-1 automatically converts Category tags to the closest corresponding Type.
In Komplete Kontrol / Maschine, any untagged presets will appear in Synth Misc.
Presets saved in NKS format do not appear in Repro-1’s browser!

Saving as nksf
Right-clicking the [SAVE] button opens a small menu offering a choice of
native
several preset formats.
h2p
h2p extended While the native, h2p and h2p extended formats allow Repro-1 to save pre-
nksf sets into the currently selected folder, choosing nksf causes them to land in
a location specified by NI. For more detailed information, please refer to
tag this patch Native Instruments’ own NKS documentation.

Conversion to nksf
Set the format to nksf by right-clicking on the [SAVE] button and choosing the nksf option.
Open Repro-1’s browser, select the presets you want to convert, right-click on one of them and
choose convert to nksf. A text message appears telling you how many were converted and how
to update the Komplete Kontrol database. During conversion, a few pages of performance con-
trols mapped to common parameters are generated and saved with each .nksf preset.

If you encounter any problems, see the next page, Troubleshooting.


INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 52
10 Troubleshooting

10-1 NKS
Repro-1 doesn't appear in Komplete Kontrol / Maschine
Firstly, make sure you have Komplete Kontrol Software V1.5+ or Maschine V2.4 – the mini-
mum requirements for our implementation of NKS.
Under Windows, Komplete Kontrol needs to register the location of Repro-5’s VST2 file: Open
the Komplete Kontrol preferences, go to Locations and add the directory that contains either
Repro-1(x64).dll or Repro-1.dll (as specified during Repro installation). Hit Rescan and check
whether Repro-5 appears.
If the NKS preset folder is empty you should reinstall Repro with the correct VST path and the
NKS-option checked. Here are the preset folder locations:
Mac MacHD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Repro-1/NKS/Repro-1/
Win C:\Users\*YOU*\Documents\u-he\Repro-1.data\NKS\Repro-1\
Perhaps the XML-File is missing from the following path:
Mac MacHD/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Service Center/u-he-Repro-1.xml
Win C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Service Center\u-he-Repro-1.xml
A re-install with the NKS-option checked should also resolve this issue.

Error message “Could not load plug-in (plug-in not found)”


Repro-1's VST file is not in the directory specified by the Komplete Kontrol preference. Reason:
Either Repro-1 wasn't installed as a VST, or it wasn’t installed with the correct path. Note that
the VST path is fixed in OSX but is user-definable in Windows:
Mac Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/u-he/

Win <User VST Folder>/ (path for the VST plug-in used during installation)
If the VST plug-in isn’t in this directory you will need to reinstall Repro-1 with the VST option
checked and the correct VST path.

10-2 DC Thump
In certain hosts a Repro-1 track can start with a noticeable DC offset, which fades within about
half a second. This effect is typical of analogue circuitry when first switched on, and it there-
fore also affects component-level models. Seldom noticed in hardware synths as they are not
switched off each time a song is stopped, DC thump can become a problem in VA models.
Solution: Start your song with an empty bar or two so that Repro-1 is "switched on" well be-
fore the first note in the song arrives. If that doesn't help, it’s likely that the host application
doesn’t process any plugins before the first note is played. In such cases you should try placing
a “dummy” note well before the song begins.

INTRO PRESETS SYNTH SEQUENCER KEYS / PERFORM EFFECTS TWEAKS CONFIG NKS 53

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