1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Kinotone Manuals
  4. Music Pedal
  5. Sparks
  6. Manual

Kinotone Sparks Manual

Analog harmonic processor
Hide thumbs
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
A n a l o g H a r m o n i c P ro c e s s o r

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the Sparks and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Kinotone Sparks

Summary of Contents for Kinotone Sparks

  • Page 1 A n a l o g H a r m o n i c P ro c e s s o r...
  • Page 2 Content re ects rmware version 1.0. Our online manual covers more advanced topics, like controlling Sparks using MIDI or CV. You can nd this at kinotoneaudio.com/sparks-manual Have questions? Join the Kinotone community to connect with us and other users at forum.kinotoneaudio.com...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents Getting Started Basic controls, visual feedback, relative knobs, transparent settings Waveshaping and Utility Gain, Level, Drive / Fold, Low-Cut, Blend, Gate State-Variable Filter Cuto , Mode, Resonance Low-Frequency Oscillator (LFO) Mapping the LFO, Rate and Range, Shape, Spin Envelope Follower (ENV) Mapping the envelope follower, Attack, Sens, envelope style options Presets...

  • Page 4: Getting Started

    TRS input and output jacks. To use it in stereo you will need TRS style cables. The default setting will also work with TS cables for a mono setup. To split a mono signal into stereo, you can set Sparks to mono in / stereo out.
  • Page 5 Controls Gain / Level knob Drive or Fold / Low-Cut knob Filter Cuto / LFO Spin knob Filter Mode / Blend knob Filter Resonance / Gate knob LFO Rate / LFO Shape knob ENV Attack / ENV Sensitivity knob LAYER button LFO MAP button LFO RANGE button ENV MAP button...
  • Page 6 Basic controls Each of the knobs on Sparks has two controls. • Primary knob controls are labeled black. • Secondary knob controls are labeled white. • Tap the LAYER button to access the controls you want to edit. The LAYER LED lights up when you are on the white layer.
  • Page 7 WHITE CONTROLS Visual feedback Each knob has its own LED. The LED conveys the real- time intensity of the setting, increasing in brightness as you rotate the knob clockwise. • Black knob controls glow a gradient of blue. • White knob controls glow a gradient of white. The LEDs are a visual guide.

  • Page 8: Transparent Settings

    LEDs. Transparent settings Sparks remembers your settings between power cycles. To start over from a blank slate at any time, there are a few simple tricks to achieve a clean signal.

  • Page 9: Waveshaping And Utility

    • You can hold any combination of these buttons depending on what you want to reset. Waveshaping and Utility Sparks provides some exible waveshaping and utility controls so you can dial in just the right distortion for your instrument and taste. It can achieve many results ranging from subtle to extreme and aggressive.
  • Page 10 This allows you to ne-tune things so that when the pedal is bypassed, your clean signal matches the volume of Sparks when it’s engaged. Fair warning: Sparks has a huge amount of gain on tap. If you ever experience too much distortion for your particular setup, there are multiple input and output level options to choose from.
  • Page 11 100% DRIVE is fully counter-clockwise. 100% FOLD is fully clockwise. At 12 noon you get a 50 / 50 mix. You can explore a spectrum of intensity by adjusting GAIN and playing with di erent DRIVE / FOLD settings. FOLD pairs best with harmonically simple material. If you dime it on material that is harmonically rich to begin with, then it may sound a little chaotic.
  • Page 12 If you want to preserve bass, then leave LOW-CUT closer to zero. more bass less bass 10,000 1000 Frequency (Hz) A pre-distortion low-cut is an essential ingredient in classic drive circuits. Sparks provides continuous control so you can tweak this however you want.
  • Page 13 200%. At 12 noon, your dry signal should be about as loud as your playing if you bypass Sparks. Fully clockwise, your dry signal is signi cantly boosted. • Use BLEND to set the volume of your dry signal.

  • Page 14: State-Variable Filter

    Our beta team insisted that it wasn’t very practical though (and you’d probably agree). If you want to try the original control, send MIDI CC 90, value >0. After applying a change via MIDI, tap LAYER and wait 3 seconds for Sparks to save state. State-Variable Filter...
  • Page 15 Sparks has a vibrant state-variable lter after the drive. Once you’ve landed on DRIVE / FOLD settings that you like, you can use the lter to sculpt your harmonics. CUTOFF CUTOFF adjusts the lter cuto point, ranging from 20 Hz–20 kHz. What this knob does depends on how the MODE knob is positioned.
  • Page 16 • LOW-PASS Rotating CUTOFF counter-clockwise removes treble. low-pass high-pass band-pass 10,000 1000 Frequency (Hz) RESONANCE RESONANCE emphasizes the point just before the lter cuto . The more resonance, the higher the boost. RESONANCE (low-pass example) 10,000 1000 Frequency (Hz)

  • Page 17: Low-Frequency Oscillator (Lfo)

    At max resonance the lter will self-oscillate. If Sparks is unexpectedly singing on its own, try turning the resonance down. The lter is also a powerful analog tool by itself. Set GAIN to zero if you feel like dialing back the dirt.
  • Page 18 LAYER LED lights up if you are mapping white controls. Now twist the knob control(s) you want to modulate. Since the knobs on Sparks are relative, you may need to sweep it rst to get the knob and LED in sync.
  • Page 19 positive slow rise, sharp fall negative -100% 100% Attenuverter sharp rise, slow fall Tap LFO MAP again to exit and return to your live settings. The LEDs start tracking the intensity of the modulation. The knob now sets the center point that the LFO swings across.
  • Page 20 • You can also hold RANGE momentarily to activate the next range, and release to return to the previous range. Sparks lets you sync the LFO to a MIDI clock! The LFO syncs when it receives a MIDI start message followed by a MIDI clock, and will continuously monitor the clock to stay in time.
  • Page 21 RANDOM RAMPS Try modulating MODE to create a harmonic tremolo. • Hold down LAYER and both MAP buttons for 3 seconds to reset Sparks to a transparent state. • Tap LFO MAP, then twist MODE fully clockwise (100% intensity, positive polarity).
  • Page 22 SPIN SPIN shifts the left and right LFO channels out of phase to create stereo movement. You can use this control to create immersive analog soundscapes that sprawl out across the stereo eld. L & R SHIFTED 180° IN PHASE (NO SPIN) L &...

  • Page 23: Envelope Follower (Env)

    Envelope Follower (ENV) The envelope follower listens to your incoming audio and creates a control signal that reacts to the dynam- ics of your playing. You can use this to create e ects like auto-wah, auto-swell, compression, and more.
  • Page 24 Mapping the envelope follower You can assign the envelope follower to any knob control or to multiple. The work ow is the same as it is for the LFO and uses attenuverters. To map the envelope follower, tap ENV MAP. The ENV LED glows green when you are editing mappings.
  • Page 25 Tap ENV MAP again to exit and return to your live settings. The LEDs start tracking the intensity of the modulation. If you have the LFO and ENV mapped to the same control, then its LED will convey the sum of real-time modulation. The knob now sets the start point of the envelope.

  • Page 26: Envelope Style Options

    LED seems like it reaches its max brightness. Envelope style options Sparks provides Classic, Compressor, and AR envelope styles. To select one, tap ENV MAP, then twist the ENV knob. The LED brie y steps in color to show when you move from one option to the next.
  • Page 27 Ribbons but with exible timing controls. Pair COMPRESSOR with the LEVEL control (negative polarity, left of noon) to turn Sparks into a great sounding compressor. ATTACK RELEASE (AR) Longer attack and medium release times. Pick attacks and transients trigger a synthesizer-style envelope.

  • Page 28: Presets

    Presets Sparks has 6 onboard presets, and you can save up to 32 using MIDI. Presets can be activated momentarily or latched, making them a fun performance e ect with a dramatic transition between a preset and your live settings.
  • Page 29 Sparks’ factory presets are designed for guitar. It's tricky to create patches that sound good on guitar and synthesizers alike. We hope that our synth pals won’t be too o ended by this. If you ever want to restore the factory presets, check out the factory reset option in our online manual.

  • Page 30: Mixing And Input / Output Level Options

    The LAYER LED indicates your current mix setting. Tap LAYER to toggle between the two options. • To save a new setting press PRESET. • To exit without saving press BYPASS. After saving or exiting Sparks will boot up normally.
  • Page 31 Tap LAYER to toggle between the four options. • To save a new setting press PRESET. • To exit without saving press BYPASS. After saving or exiting Sparks will boot up normally. INSTRUMENT IN / INSTRUMENT OUT (default) Ideal for most guitar players. This option boosts your signal at the input to maximize the amount of distortion available.

  • Page 32: Midi, Cv, Expression Control

    MIDI, CV, Expression Control All of Sparks’ parameters can be controlled using MIDI, CV, or expression. • Use the TRS MIDI input to create MIDI clock-synced tremolo e ects.

  • Page 33: Sid Chip Synthesizer

    Our online manual includes more information about MIDI, CV, and expression topics. SID Chip Synthesizer Sparks has a SID Chip-inspired synthesizer that you can play using a MIDI keyboard. This internal synth transforms the pedal into a full-blown instrument. The synth could be a product all on its own, and we didn’t feel like we could do it justice with just a few...

  • Page 34: Firmware And Documentation

    Updating the rmware is fast and easy — you just play an audio le into the device. If any updates or changes are made to Sparks, our online manual is the source of truth and will be kept up-to-date.

Table of Contents