RACKS
The Rack modules in Soundpaint are key to controlling and customizing your instruments. The Rack modules can be loaded in either Rack A or Rack B. There is not a difference between the 2 other than the name, so you can start using Rack B if Rack A is full. Let’s take a look at some of the essential modules and common controls in the Rack Modules
We’ve already taken a look at the ADSR module, but at the top of this module, we do find the ever-important Part Link control.
Click on the number that corresponds to the part you want to control, or click on the icon in the top right corner to link all parts together and control them all at once. When this is enabled, the icon changes from a circle to chain link (shown on the right picture above)
KEYSWITCH
Any parts you load in the program will automatically appear here. The keyswitches will automatically start at C1, but you can use the arrows or click, hold, and drag to change the individual keyswitches. You can also right click and select “move all keyswitches” to move them all at once.
LEGATO
This module includes another important control shared on many rack modules: The on/off switch.
When the switch is on the left and white, the entire module is off. When it’s on the right and highlighted orange, the module is enabled.
In this case, when the module is off, legato is disabled and the part will function more like a sustain part, where notes will continue to play when a new note is played. We’ll go over H.A.L. and the other controls here in more detail in another article, but you can also watch the video guide here.
MASTER
As the name suggests, the Master rack controls sound for the entire program rather than specific parts. The volume, stereo pan, tone, and pitch controls also appear in the top right corner of Soundpaint.
OFFSET
This allows you to start a sound somewhere other than the beginning. The offset and detail controls both do the same thing: shift the start further into the sound. The difference is simply that the detail control allows for much finer control, maxing out at 0.25 seconds (the main offset control will max out at different times depending on the part).