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SPITFIRE AUDIO POLARIS User Manual

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USER MANUAL
POLARIS

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  • Page 1 USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    EDNA BAY A FX EDNA BAY B FX AUX FX MASTER FX GATE SEQUENCER TOP MENU MICROPHONE SIGNALS STRING ORCHESTRA TECHNIQUES APPENDIX A — FAQS AND TROUBLESHOOTING APPENDIX B — TECHNIQUES/MICS/MIXES APPENDIX C — DEFAULT CC MAPPINGS USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 3: Introduction

    INTRODUCTION A modern string orchestra imitating classic synth sounds, from the mind of Grammy-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer & technologist Brian Transeau, AKA BT, Polaris is a mesmerising aural innovation which tastefully pairs the worlds of synthesis and orchestra, an encyclopaedia of new and inspiring sounds with almost endless possibilities, perfect for taking your scores into 2022 and beyond.

  • Page 4: Welcome

    Polaris has what you need - Made up of mixing organic strings and synth lines to three parts; the organic Strings Orchestra, create something otherworldly, something Classic synths and Vintage Resampling beyond the realm of our known universe.

  • Page 5: Downloading & Installing

    DOWNLOADING & INSTALLING Thank you for buying Polaris. If you are new to Spitfire Audio you can get up to speed here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/about/ First though, grab the ‘Spitfire Audio App’ from this link, this app will enable you to download the library: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/library-manager/...

  • Page 6: The Spitfire App Preferences

    Downloads tab where you can watch the progress if you like. You can of course leave the Downloads tab and start other downloads but at this point you should leave the Spitfire App open until the download completes. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 7: The Dedicated Plugin

    ‘New’ • In the pop-up, select Stereo and Instrument Track, and press ‘Create’ • In the first Insert slot, select multichannel plug-in and ‘Instrument’ • You should see the Polaris available as an option POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 8: Standard Interface (Quick Look)

    STANDARD INTERFACE (QUICK LOOK) THE POLARIS STANDARD INTERFACE OPENING YOUR FIRST PRESETS 1. TOP MENU 2. PRESET SELECTOR When you first open Polaris, this is what you will see. 3. MAIN CONTROLS 4. TECHNIQUE SELECTOR USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 9 SIGNAL MIXER CONTROLLERS REVERB CONTROLS KEYBOARD & INFO POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 10: Edna Interface (Quick Look)

    EDNA INTERFACE (QUICK LOOK) THE POLARIS SYNTH INTERFACE (EDNA) USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 11 MAIN CONTROLS SOUND BAYS WOBBLES ENVELOPE MIXER KEYBOARD & INFO POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 12: Preset Selector

    Favourite to add to the “starred” filter. 3. FILTERS 6. PREVIEW Click on a filter to only show those preset Play back a short example of the preset grouped by the filter. without having to load it. Enormously helpful when choosing a sound. USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 13 “user” filter. 9. INFORMATION Hover over on the “i” icon to see some information about the preset. 10. LOAD Select a preset and then press “load” (or double-click the preset). POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 14: Main Controls

    Right click on any of these controls to assign them to a MIDI controller. Remember that if you assign a MIDI controller to a parameter via the knob, the MIDI controller will follow the parameter rather than being permanently assigned to the knob. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 15: Technique Selector

    Click and drag to move the keyswitches to between notes to switch to a particular the left or right on your keyboard. technique. 5. LOCK Click here to lock off the technique section and prevent any unwanted changes. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 16 3/4, effectively halving the number of round robins. LAYER X2 (NO SKIP): Same as above but this time you will be playing 1/2 followed by 2/3 and so on, meaning that you will not halve the number of round robins available. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 17: Technique Editor

    2. CANCEL / SAVE the ‘+’ to add techniques back into your current preset. Once you’re done, click ‘Save’. If you have made a mistake and don’t want to save, choose ‘Cancel’ instead to go back to your previous settings. POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 18: Signal Mixer

    If you turn a signal on, pay attention to the LED in 10. INVERT the top left of Polaris, if it is flashing red, it means that the samples are still loading into Click to swap the left and right channels.

  • Page 19: Main Fx

    6. TIGHTNESS The start of a short note is often not the start of the ‘sound’ of the instrument. This control cuts further into the note to make it tighter but can detract from realism POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 20: Granular Fx Page

    Random distribution of grain frequency, measured as a percentage of the grain frequency parameter. Random distribution of grain frequency, measured as a percentage of the grain fre- 7. REVERB quency parameter. 14. MIX The overall mix of the granular effect. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 21: The Edna Main Controls

    Each of these has a frequency (a) and an amount which are linked to Volume, Pitch and Filter. (b) which you can change by clicking and dragging up or down. These can be assigned to your MIDI controller by right clicking. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 22 In Context: use this if a Bay A instruments needs balancing against Bay B. 4k. Fine Tune - This tunes the clone further in small- er increments +/- 100 cents (1 semitone/halftone). Bend Controls - These control what happens when you use the pitch bend wheel. USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 23 ‘equal’ shape moving left and right, to a cillator. more jagged shape to uni-directional. 5d. Direction Strength - These control the amount the XFader travels in each direction. Both sliders at 50% will oscillate half way in and out of each bay. POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 24: The Edna Fx Pages

    We have pre-curated the FX racks according to their stage in the signal path. Common send FX such as Reverbs and Delays are found on the AUX FX. Phases, Flangers and Distortions are found as direct inserts, for example Bay A and B. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 25: Edna Bay A Fx

    Treble - Modifies High frequencies Resonance - This control emphasises the filter cut Presence - Boosts upper mid frequencies. off point. Preamp - Use this to increase drive and distortion. Adjust the volume level after the FX. Output - POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 26 Colour - Adjusts the delay of the effect, lower val- ues result in an effect similar to a Phaser. Dry / Wet - Adjust the balance between the original signal, and the processed signal. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 27: Edna Bay B Fx

    Resonance - This control emphasises the filter cut off point. Noise - Adds noise to the audio signal. Colour - Adds a frequency variation to the noise. Output - Overall volume output after the FX. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 28 8 FX sends. These will not be heard unless activat- ed under the AUX FX section. 2x Delay and Reverb. Convolution, Chorus, Flanger and Phaser. Turn the sends on, and adjust the FX settings in the AUX FX returns area. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 29: Aux Fx

    Dry / Wet - Adjust the balance between the original signal, and the processed signal. Drop-down Menu - Choose from a range of differ- ent impulses. Pre Delay - Adjust the onset of the reverb in ms. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 30 Feedback - Controls the amount of output signal that is returned into the input. Speed - Controls the rate of the LFO variation. Phase - The phase difference between the left and the right channels. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 31: Master Fx

    Convolution, Chorus, Flanger and Phaser. Turn the Delay Spread - Random distribution of delay times sends on, and adjust the FX settings in the AUX FX measured as a percentage of the delay parameter. returns area. Duration - The duration of each grain. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 32 Depth - The LFO modulation amount. Increase this for a greater range of sweeping. Feedback - Controls the amount of output signal that is returned into the input. Speed - Controls the rate of the LFO variation. USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 33 Release - In ms, how long it takes for the Limiter to return to its unprocessed signal. Output - Compensates for any gain reduction. NOISE FX Select from the dropdown menu a number of de- signed noises to layer into the final signal.. POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 34: Gate Sequencer

    Particularly useful when the current sequencer track. On becomes off and working in a 3/4 time signature. vice versa. 7. After Layer FX - This switches the gate stage to after the bank FX. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 35: Top Menu

    4. MEMORY 11. VOLUME This shows how much RAM you are currently Control the overall volume of the instrument. using in this instance of Polaris. While the preset is loading, this will show the 12. LEVEL instrument loading into memory.
  • Page 36 Sync to your host BPM. Not available in this library at this time. Set whether the instrument opens up collapsed or expanded by default. When the synth engine is active, only B. Velocity and C. CC Mapping is available. USER MANUAL POLARIS...
  • Page 37 Increase for slower hard drives. Default is 12288 MAKE CONTROLS GLOBAL Common Controller values will remain when switching techniques. DISABLE HOST AUTOMATION Turn this on to enable the Host Automation from the DAW. POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 38 Not used in this library at this time. MAXIMUM PITCH VOICES Limit the number of voices triggered at any one time. Lower values can aid CPU. ENABLE MEMORY MAPPING Turn off for windows machines for better performance USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 39: Microphone Signals

    A balanced mix of the tree and outriggers microphones. A balanced mix of the ambient and gallery microphones. BOUND A pair of Boundary Layer Microphones placed either side of the conductors podium to achieve a different perspective of the ensemble. POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 40: String Orchestra Techniques

    LONG UPRISING A combination of different soft playing techniques with slow attacks which create a lush sound. LONG RUNNING THE BLADES A long sound with slight pitch irregularities to emulate analogue synth oscillator drift. USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 41: Appendix A - Faqs And Troubleshooting

    HOW DO I SOLVE THIS? Q: HOW DO I AUTHORIZE POLARIS ON A MACHINE NOT CONNECTED TO If you have moved your Polaris Library folder, you can solve this problem by using the THE INTERNET? “Locate Library” feature in the Spitfire Audio App.
  • Page 42 • Open up the Spitfire Audio App and log in as possible about your set up. It would be with your account email and password.
  • Page 43 ‘Download Ready’ section either. It may Audio App. be that you have purchased these under Open up the Spitfire Audio App and log in another email address. Checking other with your account email and password. possible email addresses for your previous purchases may help to find these missing •...
  • Page 44 PRODUCTS ON MAC OSX 10.9? order. The version of the Spitfire App needed to Q: I’VE FORGOTTEN MY PASSWORD? install Polaris only supports Mac OSX 10.13 and upwards. If you have forgotten your password, please see this link spitfireaudio.com/my-account/ Q: I HAVE FOUND A BUG login/, and click ‘Forgotten Password’.
  • Page 45 HARMONIC PIANO VHS QUARTER SPEED BASS DISTORTED GRAINS VHS STRAIGHT BASS PIANO TAPE VHS WILD TAPE SYNTH VHS STRAIGHT HOLLOW MELOTRON VHS GRANULAR QUARTER SPEED DARK OCTAVES VHS GRANULAR WARBLE BLADES ARP PAD VHS ARRIVAL ELECTRO SHORTS POLARIS USER MANUAL...

  • Page 46: Appendix B - Techniques/Mics/Mixes

    UNKNOWN SANDS BETAMAX FOREST QUIETUDE LANTERNS LINGERING ALTERED STATE CHANNEL ISLANDS PERFECT SPACES NIGHT SWEAT GREY OPENING BLESSED BE MIRRORIZE FRACTURED THE DARKNESS LEVIATHAN LOST TAPES PLANET OF SILENCE THE ANCIENT WAYS MONOCHROME STRINGS 1982 END TIMES USER MANUAL POLARIS...

  • Page 47: Appendix C - Default Cc Mappings

    APPENDIX C — DEFAULT CC MAPPINGS Dynamics Global Gain Global Pan Expression Release Tightness Reverb Variation POLARIS USER MANUAL...
  • Page 48 © S P I T F I R E A U D I O H O L D I N G S LT D M M X X I I USER MANUAL POLARIS...

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