Pyramid

FAQ

Articles

What is Pyramid?

Pyramid is the interface and workflow which powers a lot of our orchestral instruments. You can see Pyramid in a lot of our popular libraries such as Nucleus, Chorus and Jaeger. Pyramid ensures that once you learn how to use one Audio Imperia library you learn with them all.

Enjoy this cutting-edge technology and move from one Audio Imperia product to the next with an incredibly smooth transition experience.

Which products use Pyramid?

  • Areia
  • Areia Lite Edition
  • Cerberus
  • Chorus
  • Chorus Lite Edition
  • Chorus FX
  • Constrictor
  • Dolce
  • Dolce Lite Edition
  • Fluid Brass
  • Fluid Woods
  • Jaeger
  • Klavier
  • Legacy
  • Nucleus
  • Nucleus Lite Edition
  • Solo
  • Talos
  • Trailer Guitars 2
  • Otamatone

Do I need to download Pyramid?

No. Pyramid is installed automatically when you download your Audio Imperia product through Native Access. You don’t need to configure anything else except load your product in Kontakt like normal.

Overview

Articles

Multisamples

Tonal Instruments

On tonal instruments, like violins or trumpets, you can play different pitches, so samples must be mapped to the corresponding keys (Instrument range). Keyswitches are used to switch between articulations.

In Pyramid, the playing range is shown in the aqua blue and keyswitches are shown in red.

Atonal Instruments

On atonal instruments, like snare drums or cymbals, you can’t play different pitches, so samples can be mapped to any key. This means a single patch can contain multiple instruments, with each of their articulations mapped to different keys.

Patch Layout

Both Tonal and Atonal multisamples patches share a two-page layout: Basic and Advanced. The basic page contains all the essential elements for quick and easy use of the libraries, while the advanced page augments these with additional controls and customization options.

Tonal - Basic

1. Mixer (Basic), 2. Reverb (Basic), 3. Articulations, 4. Controllers (Basic).

Tonal - Advanced

1. Mixer (Advanced), 2. Reverb (Advanced), 3. Articulations, 4. Keyswitches Options,
5. Controllers (Advanced), 6. Options.

Atonal - Basic

1. Mixer (Basic), 2. Reverb (Basic), 3. Instruments / Articulations (Basic), 4. Select by MIDI, 5. Controllers (Basic).

Atonal - Advanced

1. Mixer (Advanced), 2. Reverb (Advanced), 3. Instruments / Articulations (Advanced), 4. Select by MIDI, 5. Controllers (Advanced), 6. Options.

Orchestral

Articles

Mixer

Basic Page Layout

  • The big horizontal slider can be used to crossfade between the different mic positions from closest to farthest.
  • Classic mix: Features the raw and unprocessed sound of the original recordings.
  • Modern mix: Adds subtle processing for a ready-to-go cinematic sound.

Advanced Page Layout

  • The small vertical sliders control the volume for a specific mic position/mix.
  • The knobs control the pan for a specific mic position/mix.
  • Individual mic positions/mixes can be loaded or purged using the name buttons. Use the control/command key for exclusive purging.
  • Different outputs can be assigned for each mic position/mix using the down arrow menus.

Reverb

Basic Page Layout

  • The knob controls the send amount for the reverb.
  • The on/off button toggles the reverb send bypass.

Advanced Page Layout

  • On/off button: Toggles the reverb send bypass.
  • Pre-Delay: Controls the amount of reverb pre-delay.
  • Time: Controls the reverb time.
  • Reverb Type: Selects from the two available reverb algorithms: Room and Hall.
  • Amount: Controls the send amount for the reverb.

Articulations

Articulations (Tonal)

Articulations can be selected by clicking the articulation’s name in the list (1), or by using keyswitches.


The keyswitch display shows the currently mapped keyswitch for each articulation (2).

 

Individual articulations can be loaded or purged using the power buttons (3). Use the control/command key for exclusive purging.

Keyswitch Options (Tonal)

Keyswitches can be moved up or down the keyboard by clicking and dragging the keyboard icon or by clicking the small arrows to either side (1).

Keyswitches can be locked using the padlock button (2). When locked, keyswitch commands via MIDI are ignored, though switching is still possible by clicking the articulation’s name in the list.

Instruments & Articulations (Atonal)

Basic Page Layout

Clicking an instrument name (1) reveals the available articulations for that instrument.

Entire instruments can be purged or loaded by using the power button next to the instrument name (2). Articulations can also be individually purged or loaded by using the power button next to the articulation name (3).

The instrument color can be previewed on the basic page, this color is reflected on all keys that trigger the instrument. (7).

Advanced Page Layout

Each articulation can be mapped to a maximum of two keys. Click the (+) button (4) to enable two-key mapping. To go back to one-key mapping, click the (-) button.

You can map an articulation to a key by dragging up or down on the key name (5), by typing in the value (double click the key name) or by using MIDI learn. To trigger MIDI learn, click the small MIDI icon (6) and press any key to map the articulation to that key.

The instrument color can be modified on the advanced page by dragging up or down on the color icon. This color is reflected on all keys that trigger the instrument. (7).

 

Select By MIDI - Atonal

The Select by MIDI function (1) when turned on allows you to visualize the instrument that is currently being triggered via MIDI.

Controllers

Basic Page Layout

  • Dynamics: When a long articulation is selected, the dynamics knob crossfades between the different recorded dynamic layers. Note that on short articulations, dynamic layers are triggered via velocity.
  • Expression: An additional layer of volume control that affects the instrument pre-reverb. It can be especially useful when used together with Dynamics for adding even more, as the controller’s name implies, expression in your music.
  • Vibrato: On specific long articulations, the vibrato knob crossfades between the recorded non-vibrato and vibrato samples.
  • Tight: The Tight button is just a simplified Sample Start controller, when setting it to on, Sample Start is set to 0ms, when setting it to off, Sample Start is set to the previously set value. This feature is especially useful when you go back and forth between recording and playback when composing.

Advanced Page Layout

  • Dyn. Range: The Dynamic Range knob applies volume scaling to all articulations. With the Dynamic Range slider set at 0, samples will play back as they were recorded. As you increase the Dynamic Range, all but the loudest dynamic layer scale down, allowing the library to play quieter on the lowest dynamics than originally recorded. With the Dynamic Range slider at maximum, a Dynamics (for long articulations) or Velocity (for short articulations) value of zero will result in silence.
  • Sample Start: The Sample Start controller can be thought of as a “realism/responsiveness” knob. When setting near 0ms, the instrument will respond with lower latency, but attacks, releases, and legato transitions will sound abrupt. When setting near -250ms, it will have the opposite effect, introducing more latency, but with the benefit of more realistic attacks, releases, and legato transitions. For an in-depth explanation of Sample Start, see the “Sample Start” walkthrough video in our YouTube channel.
  • Leg. Smooth: The Legato Smoothness controller affects the length of the crossfades used on legato articulations. Higher values tend to sound smoother but muddier, lower values tend to sound crisper but bumpier. There are no right or wrong answers, just adjust to your taste.

Sample Start

Products in our Pyramid interface benefit from sample start. This feature ensures that your MIDI plays realistically and consistently in time, allowing you to quantise notes and copy MIDI from track to track with predictable results.

Hear more about sample start and how to benefit from it in our video here: 

Options

Options can be selected from the main drop-down menu (1). Enable or disable options using the power button (2). An asterisk will appear next to the name of any enabled options (3).

  • Velocity Curve: This option allows you to change how a patch reacts to velocity. There are three curves that can be selected using the drop-down menu (2): linear, shelf and fixed. These can be further customized by clicking and dragging up or down on the velocity curve display (1).
  • Transpose: (1) Shifts the playable range up or down the keyboard. Note that this option does not affect keyswitches.
  • Range: (2) Increases or decreases the playable range of an articulation above or below the recorded range of the instrument. Unlike the previous options, which are global, Range is set per-articulation. The extended range will show up as yellow on the keyboard.

Envelope: On articulations other than Legato, the envelope controls set Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release for the currently selected articulation. This can be useful for creating pads from sustains, or to adjust the feel of a short articulation.

Polyphonic Legato: On legato articulations, this option allows you to control two independent legato lines by playing notes in a specific velocity range. The Velocity Splits control determines how many lines can be played simultaneously. For instance, with 2 velocity splits, any notes above Velocity 64 trigger one legato line, while notes with a velocity less than 64 trigger a second independent legato line. 

Sound Design

Articles

Interface

Sound design patches have a two-page layout as well: Main and FX. The Main page contains a set of essential sound modifying tools, and the FX page contains a set of insert and send effects that you can apply to the sounds.

Main Page

  1. Sound Selector: Click on the sound name to open the sound selection menu. You can also browse through sounds by using the left and right arrows.
  2. Sound Modifiers: Pyramid offers 8 automatable controllers for Volume, Pan, Attack, Release, Pitch, Stereo Spread, Low Pass Filter Cutoff and High Pass Filter Cutoff.
  3. Semitone Lock (Pitch): When enabled, truncates the pitch difference value to semitones.
  4. Sample Start: Determines where playback of the selected sample will start from. Click and drag the cursor to set a new position.
  5. Forward/reverse playback: The direction of the arrow reflects the direction of playback, either forward or reverse.
  6. Global: Determines whether the main page controllers affect the patch globally or per-sound.

FX Page

  1. Effect selector: Click on an effect name to select it.
  2. Effect on/off: Click the power button to turn the effect on/off.
  3. Effect parameters: All the parameters for the selected effect are displayed here. All parameters are automatable.
  4. Save/open buttons: Can be used to save or load presets. Presets are stored in .nka files.