VectorSynth
NAVIGATING the VectorSynth
Navigation:
There are generally SIX Screens to navigate between - but no simple place to naviagate to all...
ORBITER : This is the inspiring visual representation of the mixing path that the playing sequence or arpegiator will take between the four sounds (think of them as oscillators).
CORNER MATRIX : This is where the characteristics of each of the four sounds are shaped further using generators, filters and other parameters, using a matrix where each of the four sounds are easily seen on one screen.
EFFECTS : This screen represents the arpegiator/sequencer steps and allows manipulation of each step parameter as well as the overall effects, LFOs for Vibrato and Tremolo, tempo, Poly vs Dual vs Mono selection, and more.
PRESETS : This is where you access saved presents and save your own sound presets.
ROUTINGS : This is where Midi routings can be set to many parameters of the sounds.
SETTINGS : This is the general settings screen to set up basic midi channel selection, sync modes, even screen brightness and many others.
ORBITER
EFFECTS
ROUTING
CORNER MATRIX
PRESETS
SETTINGS
NAVIGATION NOTE: You CAN'T get to all pages from all other pages....
CORNER MATRIX - is a dedicated hardware button - so you can get there from ANYWHERE... clicking it again takes you to the ORBITER
ORBITER - has an icon from all the other pages (except the corner matrix, which you can use the hardware button to toggle to the orbiter)
EFFECTS - has an icon from all the other pages
ROUTING - has an icon ONLY ON THE EFFECTS and SETTINGS pages
PRESETS - has an icon on all pages EXCEPT for the Orbiter and Corner Matrix pages
SETTINGS - has an icon ONLY ON THE ROUTING PAGE
Things not in the manual (or not clear to me)
You NEED a MIDI CONTROLLER (obvious perhaps):
Don't try to use VectorSynth completely standalone... you really NEED a midi controller to get pitch information into the arpeggiator or sequencer at minimum. Some desktop synths have methods of entering pitch information directly - I don't see any way to do this on the Vector Synth.
COPY one Corner Sound to another Corner! 😃 (COPY/PASTE Corners):
If you want to copy the sound from one of the four corners to another one of the four corners - you can do that!
On the CORNER MATRIX screen (click the CORNER MATRIX hardware button on the left side)...
Long-Press any one of the ROW Numbers (aka CORNER Numbers) as the source sound to be copied - and select COPY FROM on the pop up menu
Long-Press the destination ROW Number (aka CORNER number) where you want the copied sound to be pasted - and select PASTE TO on the pop up menu
WEIRD BEHAVIOR of RANDOMIZER:
Perhaps a bug... but it seems (as of firmware 2.9.1 or earlier) that the "SELECTED" vs "ALL FOUR" selector for the randomizer target will only work correctly when in "MULTI" mode, rather than "SINGLE". If you are in SINGLE mode and use the randomizer with "SELECTED" chosen, it will randomize the sound/corner that was selected from the last time the device was in "MULTI" mode.
RED CHAIN INDICATORS on ARPEGGIATOR:
The chaining of steps works differently for Mono, Dual and Poly modes.
In MONO, the chaining to DIFFERENT octaves (using the octave selectors per step) will create a GLIDE / Legato using the Glide setting for timing.
In POLY or DUAL, IF the octave settings are the same between the chained steps, the chaining will extend the note to the next step - but IF THE OCTAVE CHANGES between chained steps, there is no effect and the CHAIN INDICATOR TURNS RED to indicate that it has no effect.
ARPEGGIATOR PLAY and STOP:
There are two things that control the playing of the arpeggiator or sequencer:
the ACTIVE switch, on the bottom right of the device, must be ON (now, that means DOWN... for some reason, DOWN = ON on the VectorSynth Toggle Switches 😅)
the PLAY button - ONLY ON THE EFFECTS SCREEN - must be clicked - OR - an inbound timing signal must be received and the bottom left icon on the EFFECTS screen should indicated that mode.
The Arpeggiator allows up to 64 steps.... BUT only 8 step SETTINGS:
You can record up to 64 steps into the Arpeggiator - but the settings shown on the 8 step display repeats across however many steps you record.
That means the Chaining, Step On/Off, Octave selection, and Velocity repeat across your steps.
For example: if you record 3 steps, the settings on step 1,2&3 operate as expected, and then note 1 uses the settings on step 4, note 2 on step 5, note 3 on step 6, note 1 on step 7, note 2 on step 8, and then it "wraps" so that note 3 (on it's 3rd time playing) uses the settings on step 1 again, and so it continues....
Another example: If you record 12 steps, notes 1-8 use the settings on steps 1-8, and then steps 9-12 use the settings on steps 1-4 and then back to note 1 which uses step4 settings.... etc... the notes keep playing using the next sequention step settings...
Therefore, don't look for a way to see the settings for the next set of 8 steps, on so on... it's just one set of 8 step settings re-used across the pattern and then repeats.
You Can Play Notes to Accompany the Arpeggiator:
If you want the arpeggiator to play while you are simultaneously playing other notes on your midi controller, you must EITHER:
TURN FEED OFF (the feed direction LED is lit, NOT blinking, when it is OFF)
or With FEED ON (Feed Direction LED blinking): SET THE FEED DIRECTION TO DELAY only... otherwise the notes you play will replace the arpeggiated sequence which is playing...
The TRASH Can on the EFFECTS Screen (in the DELAY Section):
The mysterious TRASH CAN on the bottom left of the effects screen is to DELETE ALL DELAY FEEDBACK so you can start your delay chain fresh...
The DOT on the EFFECTS Screen (in the DELAY section):
The mysterious DOT on the bottom left of the effects screen is to use DOTTED TIME on your Delay Time (which adds half the time value - like all dotted time in music notation)
The BYPASS BUTTON on the EFFECTS Screen (in the DRIVE Section):
The icon which looks like a pac-man dots thing (three vertical dots with teensy arrows between them) in the DRIVE section of the EFFECTS screen is the BYPASS BUTTON - which, according to the VectorSynth manual, "DISABLES THE SATURATOR. In this case [when active] the Drive Amount only sets the mix level of the effect’s band-pass filter".
