Thank you for using Sika Oriental Scale from Human Touch Technology

In this document we will show you how to install and use the sound module
More info and other products can be found at: http://www.httmusic.com

What is sika?
Sika is a free sound font player dedicated to play Arabic instruments and scales; you can also load your own sound
fonts and test them with the ethnic flavor, and finally add Arabic percussion styles with tempo follow
Important: Sika supports only 44.1 sessions for now (we are working on the other sample rates)

How to install
PC:

1. install the free Pluggo run time (if you don’t have it already) you can get it here :
http://www.cycling74.com/downloads/pluggo
2. for VST only usage copy the .DLL file to the shared VST-Plugins folder (usually "C:\Program
Files\Steinberg\Vstplugins")
3. if you want to use it as RTAS plug-in you should copy it to the Pluggo VST folder usually
"C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Vstplugins\Pluggo Runtime"
4. copy the sounds folder to a place of your choice (the root folder is recommended)

Important: it's highly recommended that you put Sika DLL in the Pluggo runtime folder as in step 3

Sika will show in the Pluggo Runtime subdirectory in the host plugins

MAC:

1. run installer
2. choose easy install if you don’t have Pluggo installed (sound bank will be copied to "Mac HD" root)
3. choose custom install to change locations or skip installing Pluggo Runtime
4. Sika is VST RTAS AU compatible if installed in the right Pluggo Runtime folder and will work as VST only
otherwise
The default recommended folder "Mac: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Pluggo"
After installing, the first thing to do is to point the module to where the sounds are

1. press the "Set Path button" and select the sounds folder
2. press the " Store" button, the path should appear to the right of the button

Important: don’t change the default name of the folder (you can change location then repeat the steps)
Sika will show as "Pluggo: Sika" or "Sika" in the plugins list (name might vary in different hosts)

Audio-Unit Scan (Mac Only):

Run this application (found after installation) if you use Sika as AU plug in (must run it once after a new install)
AudioUnit Scan is an application that examines your Pluggo plug-ins folder and writes out descriptive information
needed by Audio Unit host applications.
The interface:

There are 4 main sections

1. factory sounds (the included sounds in sound font format)
2. user sound (to load your own samples)
3. percussions section (loop player)
4. reverb unit

Factory sound section:

Instrument: choose sound from the list
Dry: dry (no effect) volume slider (also channel volume)
Wet: reverb volume
Midi: midi channel
Bend: pitch bend value (works for the user sounds as well)

User sound section:

Load: loads sound fonts (sf2 format)
Reload: to reload the sound (needed for some hosts), you should use this button if the samples doesn’t load with saved
sessions (or doesn’t make a sound)
Clear: use before loading new user sound, it clears the previously loaded sound (no effect on empty bank)
Sika can load one sound at a time
Please note that although you can load sounds without clearing the memory you will only hear the old sound
important: sika (free) does not keep the user sounds when saving a session and you'll need to load the sound when you
open the saved ones (in later section we will show you a tip to override this issue )
Percussions section:
Plays percussions loops following the song tempo from notes C1 to F#1 for Doff and Riq
The loop will follow the host only when it is playing and will play the original tempo otherwise
Bar/Beat: shows the current song position

Reverb unit:
Master effect for all the sections with controls over:
Volume – room size – reverb time – tail (reverb decay)
Changes will affect all the sections

Scale control:

Click the red area to turn the sika notes on and off
Turn all the notes off if you want an equal (western) scale
Important: you can record the sika on and off to change scales on the same track

About the Sika Notes and Arabic Scales

Sika is dedicated to the Arabic scales (different from other eastern scales) located mainly in the Arabian Peninsula and
North Africa (some other countries have same scales with different names like Iran and Turkey).
The word Sika stands for the Half Flat notes usually there are one or two of them in an Arabic scale
And the word Maqam stands for "Arabic scale"
Normal flat note: 100 cents for half note, 200 cents for one note
Half flat (sika): - 50 cents of the original pitch and one sika note 150 cents or 3/4 normal note

The default Maqam in sika (E and B half flat)

Sika turns the normal note to half flat note when it's selected
Most of the sound modules have a fine tune table for unconventional scales but sika is different in two things
1. it gives you the right tuning in a fast and simple way
2. you can change scales over time (usually you have to save a user scale in other modules)
About user bank
When you load a sound font bank in the user section it will be lost when you reopen the session and you have to reload
it again (by the load button not the reload) this feature is enabled in the pro version of Sika but we have a work
around for you to use your own sound fonts
Tip: Rename your file to "ACC1.sf2" (in this case you'll use it instead of the original sounds) and it will be reloaded
when you open the session
Important: be sure to keep all the files in the default path or sika will not load them
Tip: although Sika has 9 selectable (the factory sounds) it can access more from the sound font bank using program
change, so if you want to add your sound fonts and use the factory sounds you can edit "ACC1.sf2" with any soundfont
editor and add your sounds to it , now you can use them using program change 10 and up
Important: all instances of sika shares the same sound path, if you change it any time you'll change it for other
saved sessions

Why Pluggo Runtime:

We used Max/MSP application (programming environment) to build Sika and we intend to use it for future
developments but in order to run it Pluggo must be installed.

About Pluggo and Max/MSP

The Pluggo Runtime Installer makes it possible to use Max/MSP-based audio plug-ins within VST, RTAS, and
AudioUnit (Mac only) host applications. It does not install any plug-ins. Installing the Pluggo Runtime is not
necessary if you have already installed the full version of Pluggo.
Pluggo is installed to the following location.
Mac: /Applications/Pluggo
Win: \Program Files\Cycling '74\Pluggo
For more info: http://www.cycling74.com/downloads/pluggo (choose Pluggo Runtime for the free version)
Questions?
If you have any problems or questions related to Sika or Pluggo Runtime, please e-mail us at support@httmusic.com ,
http://www.httmusic.com/support.html and we'll assist you promptly.

Pluggo and Max/MSP are property of Cycling '74 http://www.cycling74.com

Copyright © 2009 Human Touch Technology http://www.httmusic.com

All the content are subject to change without notice