Introduction

From Instrument Designer Stephen O’Connell

“Ambedo... a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed

in vivid sensory details.”

Ambedo captures the beautiful and lush tones of classic string synths, washing your
tracks with a dancing texture that is both subtle and powerful in its own right. There
are many synths and many ways to create these sounds, each with their own flavour. I
couldn’t choose between the two textures I liked, so I included them both in a
performance enabled blend that fills a huge space in your music.

The driving force behind this library though was the idea of creating a user interface
that could inspire movement and creativity when using this instrument. The ability to
turn on and assign different effects to different movements on the central XY pad is
both an intriguing sound design tool and a powerful performance tool. Whether you are
using it to dial in the right sound or to sculpt the sound as you transition throughout
your piece, I’m sure you will find the XY pad an intuitive way to interface with this
instrument.

I love that I get to share this gorgeous sound with you through the power of sampling. I
hope it finds a place in your composer’s toolkit and becomes a source of inspiration for
your future projects.

Cheers,
Steve.
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GUI Overview

1. ADSR Controls

The ADSR Controls are a familiar and standard set of controls seen on many samplers
or synthesisers. These controls adjust the envelop of each note you perform, shaping
the sample’s amplitude. This can help vary the sound from short plucks and lead tones
to long and evolving pads.
• Attack - Varies the time it takes for the note to reach full volume.

• Decay - Varies the time it takes for the note to decrease in volume until it reaches
the sustained volume.

• Sustain - Varies the volume of the note while the note is sustained/held down.

• Release - Varies the time it takes for the note to decrease to 0 volume after the
note is released/let go.

2. XY Pad

The XY Pad is the central control of Ambedo. The XY Pad allows you to control the
blend of the two sample sets and various effect controls across both the X and the Y
Axis. When you increase or decrease the cursor vertically, you are adjusting the Y axis.
When you increase or decrease the cursor horizontally, you are adjusting the X axis.
The bottom left corner is the 0 point, where both the X and Y axes are set to 0.

By default, when the instrument is loaded it won’t have any effects assigned to the XY
Pad. However, the Y Axis always controls the blend between the two sample sets. At
the bottom of the Y Axis, you will get the first sample set. As you increase the Y axis,
the second sample set will be introduced, combining with the other. Be aware that a
volume increase will happen as a result of this combination.

3. Effects Switchboard

The XY Pad can control a number of effects. Each effect can be turned on via the I/O
button and assigned to either the X or Y axes via the X/Y button. The character
highlighted in light grey indicates which is currently selected on each of the two types
of buttons.

• LP (Low Pass) Filter - A low pass filter, with the cutoff controlled via the XY Pad.

• Saturation - A gritty and aggressive built in distortion, with the drive control
adjusted via the XY Pad.
• Chorus - A chorus effect with the wet control adjusted via the XY Pad.

• Reverb - A large, long and lush reverb (emulating the built in reverbs of the sampled
synthesisers) with the wet control adjusted via the XY Pad.

4. FX Controls

Here are some controls that adjust some of the settings on the included effects. These
controls are not controlled via the XY Pad.

• LPF (Low Pass Filter) Res. - The Resonance control on the Low Pass Filter.

• Chs. Dep. - The Depth of the Chorus effect.

• Chs. Sp. - The Speed of the chorus effect.

5. More Info Button

Within the More Info Button are some quick details accessible from the instrument’s
interface. Details on the instrument’s features as well as a quick list of MIDI CC
controls are included.

MIDI CC Controls and Automation

1. MIDI CC Controls

Within the instrument’s script, MIDI CC controls have been coded into the instrument’s
interface in order to easily control the XY Pad during a performance.

• MIDI CC 1 (Modulation) - Controls the Y Axis

• MIDI CC 11 (Expression) - Controls the X Axis

Along with these MIDI CC controls, there are some preset MIDI functions that could
provide useful performance controls.

• MIDI CC 64 (Sustain) - Tied to the Sustain Pedal on MIDI Keyboard Controllers,

provides the opportunity to sustain notes after their keys have been released.

• MIDI CC 7 (Volume) - Controls the overall output volume of the Kontakt Sampler.

These MIDI CC Controls are captured during a MIDI recording or sequenced later in
your DAW’s MIDI CC automation.

2. Automation

If you do not have a MIDI CC controller or wish to use track automation instead, you
may be able to record track automation within your DAW. Scripted into the library are
automation lanes for the X and Y Axis. Follow these steps (adjust for your DAW of
choice) to capture automation during a performance.

1. Setup a Software Instrument or MIDI track and load the Kontakt

Player.

2. Drag and Drop the Ambedo.nki file into the Kontakt Player.

3. On your DAW’s track workspace, switch automation from Read/Off

to Latch. (Latch is recommended to ensure it does not snap to a
previous position while recording if you let go of the cursor).

4. Record the track.

5. REMEMBER: After recording, remember to switch automation back

to Read.
Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who downloads, experiments, uses and provides
feedback on this library. It has been a pleasure to create and I hope it has helped you in
some small way.

If you would like to leave a review through PianoBook, please do. It is a fantastic way
for others to see how they can use this library and what they could make with it. If you
have any feedback, feel free to email info@stephen-oconnell.com.

I will also be sharing additional videos on my YouTube channel of how some parts of
the library were created and scripted. If you would like to check those out, follow the
PianoBook link to my YouTube channel (through the Library Demo video) to subscribe
for when those are released.