Related Manuals for Gibson Dark Fire Applications
Summary of Contents for Gibson Dark Fire Applications
- Page 1 Gibson Dark Fire Gibson Dark Fire Applications Applications Quick Start Quick Start Using the RIP Console, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3, and Ableton Live Lite 7 Gibson Studio Edition Owner’s Manual Version 1.0.2...
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Page 2: Important Safety Instructions
Environmental Factors Heat and moisture can harm your Gibson RIP. Please do not install or operate this product near sources of moisture, such as sinks, damp basements, leaky roofs, etc. and never store it near heat sources, such as heaters or radiators. -
Page 3: Warranty Protection
Warranty Protection It is very important to us that you are satisfied with your Gibson product. Register it and activate your warranty protection by mailing the warranty card included with Dark Fire to Gibson USA, Department W, P.O. Box 100087, Nashville, TN 37210-0087. If you encounter any kind of problem, contact us as soon as possible so we can make things right. - Page 4 Gibson or its authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages, and Gibson shall not be liable for any expenses, claims or suits arising from or relating to any of the foregoing.
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Page 5: Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction Gibson's Dark Fire is not just an extraordinary guitar, but part of an advanced system that is equally at home on stage or in today's computer-based studio. This Quick Start manual focuses on using the Dark Fire system in the studio. -
Page 6: Chapter 2: Playing Dark Fire With Rip And Your Computer
(called an “alias” on the Mac) that was placed on your desktop during installation. Otherwise, for Windows, use the Start menu to go Start > Program > Gibson RIP > Gibson RIP Console. For the Mac, from the Finder click on Go, open Applications, and double-click on Gibson RIP Console. - Page 7 7. Pull up on the Dark Fire MCK and tune the guitar. There is complete documentation on tuning functions at http://www.gibson.com/darkfire. 8. Strum the strings. You should see signal in the meters on the eight Dark Fire channels (Guitar, Piezo, Low E, A, D, G, B, High E). If not, unplug the stereo cable connecting the Dark Fire to the RIP, wait a few seconds, then plug in again.
- Page 8 MCK knob to enter Chameleon mode. 5. Rotate the MCK counter-clockwise to E (Gibson), and check out the sound. Then try the other positions and play for a little bit (A = Blues, D = Funky, G= Twang, B = Acoustic, e...
- Page 9 Blend in the Piezo Pickup Now we'll add in the piezo pickup, and vary the blend between the piezo and magnetic pickup. 1. Pull out the MCK. Dark Fire must be “on” to hear the piezo pickup or hex outputs. 2.
- Page 10 Use the Individual String (Hex) Outputs for Stereo Spread Dark Fire's ability to send individual outputs for each string allows for some truly amazing effects. This option is most relevant when using Ableton Live and Guitar Rig, but even when using only the Console, the individual outputs can create some exceptional stereo effects.
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Page 11: Chapter 3: Guitar Rig 3 Stand-Alone Mode
This Quick Start will get you up and running with Guitar Rig 3, but the program is deep and flexible. Although you can enjoy using Guitar Rig 3 at a basic level, Gibson recommends going over the program's documentation so you can become familiar with its many features. -
Page 12: Audio Tab
Audio Tab Click on the Preferences Audio tab and select the following. Driver: ASIO Device: ASIO Gibson RIP Sample rate: As desired (usually 44100) Latency: This is a read-only value. To change the latency, click on ASIO Config under Device. This opens the Echo ASIO Configuration window, where you can adjust the ASIO buffer size. -
Page 13: Routing Tab
Each input field (Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 L and Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 R) lets you select a particular Dark Fire output. In stand-alone mode, it's unlikely you would want to select an individual string for an input. Gibson recommends the following routing. Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 L... -
Page 14: Midi Tab
Next, click on the Outputs button. The most useful option connects Guitar Rig 3's stereo outs to the RIP's stereo outputs. Guitar Rig 3 Out1+2 L 1: Left Guitar Rig 3 Out1+2 R 2: Right If you're feeding a mono out instead of stereo, you can use the following assignment to connect Guitar Rig 3's left output to the RIP left output. - Page 15 Macintosh Audio and MIDI Setup Audio Tab Click on the Audio tab, and select the following. Driver: CoreAudio Device: RIP (3987) (8 in, 2 out) Sample rate: As desired (usually 44100) Latency: Lower values result in lower latency (i.e., the delay between hitting a note on your guitar and hearing it).
- Page 16 Each input field (Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 L and Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 R) lets you select a particular Dark Fire output. In stand-alone mode, it's unlikely you would want to select an individual string for an input. Gibson recommends the following routing. Guitar Rig 3 In1+2 L...
- Page 17 The most useful option connects Guitar Rig 3's stereo outs to the RIP's stereo outputs: Guitar Rig 3 Out1+2 L RIP (3987) Out 0 Guitar Rig 3 Out1+2 R RIP (3987) Out 1 If you're feeding a mono out instead of stereo, you can use the following assignment to connect Guitar Rig 3's left output to the RIP left output.
- Page 18 Dark Fire into the RIP with a mono cable, and the MCK knob pushed in). Bank 002 has programs optimized for the Chameleon E setting (Gibson), Bank 003's programs are optimized for the Chameleon A setting (Texas Blues), and so on.
- Page 19 Guitar Rig 3 Quick Tips As mentioned, GR3 is very flexible; to get the most out of the program, please read the documentation included in the Guitar Rig 3 folder. However, while you're getting started, the following tips will introduce you to some of the main features, and help you climb the learning curve a little faster.
- Page 20 CPU. Gibson highly recommends enabling HI-Q unless your computer can't handle the extra load. Note: Increasing latency loads the CPU less, so if your computer has a hard time handling HI- Q mode, try increasing the latency a bit.
- Page 21 Show/Hide Tape Decks, Tuner, and Metronome The Tape Decks, Tuner, and Metronome, while useful tools, can take up a fair amount of screen space when active. Four show/hide buttons toward the upper right let you show or hide these modules. For example, in the screen shot above, the Tuner is hidden (hey, it's a Dark Fire—it tunes itself!), and the first Tape Deck is about to be hidden.
- Page 22 To tap tempo on-the-fly: In the Tempo Toolbar, select Free from the left drop-down menu, and click on the Tap button with your mouse. Tapping twice will set a tempo, but for more accuracy, continue tapping and GR3 will average your clicks to create a more accurate tempo. To store a tempo with a preset: In the Tempo Toolbar, select Sound from the left drop-down menu.
- Page 23 1. To delete a module from the rack, click on the Delete button. 2. To Minimize a module to take up the smallest possible size, click on the Minimize button. 3. To Maximize a module to reveal more controls, click on the Maximize button. With some modules, there are two stages of Maximize and Minimize.
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Page 24: How To Save A Preset
How to Save a Preset GR3 includes comprehensive preset management options. But if you come up with a cool preset and want to make sure you save it before it goes away, here's the short form version. 1. After creating a preset you like, click on the Browser button, then click on the Bank where you want to store it. -
Page 25: Chapter 4: Recording With Ableton Live Lite
Chapter 4: Recording with Ableton Live Lite 7 Gibson Studio Edition Ableton Live Lite 7 Gibson Studio Edition (“Live” for short), is an advanced DAW (digital audio workstation) that offers multiple ways of working. You can treat it like a tape recorder with built-in mixer, and simply record tracks into ... - Page 26 Once the Preferences window is open, click on the Audio Tab and select the following options. Driver Type: ASIO Audio Device: ASIO Gibson RIP Channel Configuration, Input Config: Click on Input Config. Activate the various inputs as shown in the screen below, then click on OK.
- Page 27 Here's how the RIP outputs correspond to Live's inputs. Guitar Piezo Low E High E So, by activating “1 (mono) & 2 (mono),” the RIP Guitar output (1) can be treated as a mono signal, as can the RIP Piezo output (2). However, by also activating “1/2 (stereo),” you have the option of treating the Guitar and Piezo outs as separate channels of a stereo pair.
- Page 28 File Folder Tab After adjusting the audio Preferences, click on the File Folder tab. In most cases, Live “knows” where it installed its components, such as the Library. However, it does need to know where you installed the Guitar Rig 3 plug-in. In the Quick Start Installation manual, when installing Guitar Rig 3 you were asked to make note of where it installed its VST plug-in.
- Page 29 Setting Live's Preferences (Macintosh) Before opening Live, open the RIP Console. Open Ableton Live. From the Finder, select Go > Applications > Live 7.0.13 OS X then double- click on Live. Once Live is open, from Live's File menu go Live > Preferences Audio Tab Once the Preferences window is open, click on the Audio Tab and select the following options.
- Page 30 Here's how the RIP outputs correspond to Live's inputs. Guitar Piezo Low E High E So, by activating “1 (mono) & 2 (mono),” then the RIP Guitar output (1) can be treated as a mono signal, as can the RIP Piezo output (2). However, by also activating “1/2 (stereo),” you have the option of treating the Guitar and Piezo outs as separate channels of a stereo pair.
- Page 31 Sample Rate, In/Out Sample Rate: Set as desired. 44100 is standard. Buffer Size: Click within the Buffer Size field and drag down to lower the BufferSize, and up to increase it. Lower values result in lower latencies (i.e., delay between hitting a note on your guitar and hearing it).
- Page 32 Click on the “Use Audio Units” field so that it is On, as shown in the screen shot. Then, click on the “Use VST Plug-In System Folders” field so that it is On as well. If you have created a custom folder for VST plug-ins, then click on the “Use VST Plug-In Custom Folder,”...
- Page 33 Your First Recording with Ableton Live Now that the Preferences are set, close the Preferences window and let's record. But first, check the RIP Console and make sure that the following channels are unmuted: Guitar, Piezo, Playback 1 and 2, and Analog Out 1 and Out 2. Also make sure that the RIP outputs are hooked up to a monitoring system, or you have headphones plugged into the front panel Phones jack.
- Page 34 5. Start playing! You'll see audio being drawn in the track. 6. When you've played enough, click on the Stop button. 7. Position the cursor in the “Scrub Area” above the track you just recorded. The cursor turns into a speaker, and playback begins wherever you click. 8.
- Page 35 Processing Your Recording with Guitar Rig 3 Now that we have some material recorded, let's process it with Guitar Rig 3. 1. Click on the Plug-in Device Browser. 2. Drag the Guitar Rig 3 device into the Track View Selector (the space that says “Drop Audio Effects Here”).
- Page 36 Using Dark Fire Templates for Live The Gibson Edition of Live includes several templates that are designed specifically for Dark Fire—you don't have to start from scratch with every project. Here's how to access these files. 1. Click on File Browser 1 (the folder with the 1 inside).
- Page 37 About the Dark Fire Templates The Dry templates route various RIP outputs to Live tracks. Here's what the abbreviations mean: The individual string hex outputs are assigned to six individual tracks. The magnetic pickup output is assigned to a track. The piezo pickup output is assigned to a track.