The V.a.s.t. Soft Button; Vast Program Structure - Kurzweil PC3LE Musician's Manual

Program Mode
The Program Editor

The V.A.S.T. Soft Button

Pressing the V.A.S.T. soft button enters the V.A.S.T. Program Editor (or the KB3 Program Editor
for KB3 Programs,) which provides much deeper editing parameters than are available on the
PC3LE's main Program Editor pages.
Adding Parameters To The PARAMETERS Page
To add parameters to the PARAMETERS page in the PC3LE's main Program Editor, make
assignments to the source field for the desired parameter in the V.A.S.T. Editor. (See page 6‐9 for
details on the PARAMETERS page.)
For details on controllable parameters of VAST programs, see the following sections: The DSP
Modulation (DSPMOD) Page on page 6‐35, The LFO Page on page 6‐42, The ASR
Page on page 6‐43, The Function (FUN) Page on page 6‐45, and The Envelope Control (ENVCTL)
Page on page 6‐49. For KB3 programs, see the following sections: KB3 Editor: The PITCH
Page on page 6‐62, KB3 Editor: The AMP Page on page 6‐62, and KB3 Editor: The LFO, ASR, and
FUN Pages on page 6‐70.
For each program, the Program Editor can be used to assign the PC3LE's physical controllers or
external MIDI controller CC numbers to control parameters. Controllable parameters each have
a source field. Source fields are named differently depending on their page: Src1, Src2, RateCt,
Trigger, Input a, Input b, and Source. To assign a PC3LE physical controller, select the source
field for the parameter, hold the Enter button and move the controller. To assign a CC number to
a source field, enter the number with the alphanumeric pad, then press Enter. A CC number for
an external controller can also be set by selecting the source field for the parameter, holding the
Enter button, and sending a CC value from the external MIDI controller. When assigning a CC
number to a source field, the number may be displayed in the source field as the name of that
CC's default use.

VAST Program Structure

The diagram below depicts the hierarchy of a V.A.S.T. Program, from individual samples all the
way up to Setups, which can contain up to 16 Programs.
Every V.A.S.T. Program contains at least one layer. A layer consists of a keymap and an
algorithm for processing the samples contained in the keymap. Each sample is a separate digital
recording of some kind of sound: musical, vocal, industrial, any sound at all. Individual samples
are assigned to specific key ranges (from A 2 to D 3, for example), and are also assigned to be
triggered at specific attack velocities. These assignments constitute the keymap.
When you trigger a note, the PC3LE looks to the keymap of each layer of the currently active
V.A.S.T. Program(s) to determine which samples to play. The sound engine then fetches the
requested samples and generates a digital signal representing the sound of the samples. This
signal first passes through the five DSP functions that make up the algorithm. It then passes
through the PC3LE's effects processor, and finally appears—with some level of effects applied to
it—at one or more of the audio outputs.
The layer is the V.A.S.T. Program's basic unit of polyphony, that is, each layer constitutes one of
the 64 voice channels the PC3LE can activate at any time. If you have a Program that consists of
two layers covering the note range from A 0 to C 8, each key you strike triggers two voice
channels.
Note: One exception to this structure is when using a KVA oscillator, the sound source for that layer is
not derived from a keymap, but is generated at the algorithm stage (though keymap information is still
used to set key range and maximum amplitude.) After this, the structure is the same as described above.
See Editing VAST Programs With KVA Oscillators on page 6‐53 for more details.
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