RealiTone Nightfall Software User Manual
- June 3, 2024
- RealiTone
Table of Contents
RealiTone Nightfall Software
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTION
Thank you for purchasing Nightfall! We’ve tried to make Nightfall as intuitive and easy to use as possible, but there’s a lot going on, so let’s go over the features – starting with the basics …
THE 2-LAYER SYSTEM
Just like Sunset Strings, the defining feature of Nightfall isn’tjustthe high
quality of sounds, but the 2-Layer system – the ability to blend and transform
between two layers using the Modwheel (CC1).
MODWHEEL BEHAVIOR
The Modwheel has 3 Behavior Options:
X – A standard crossfade – Layer 1 (the bottom layer) will fade into
Layer 2 (the top layer) as you increase the Modwheel (CC1). In other words,
with Modwheel at 0, you will only hear Layer 1.
With Modwheel at 127 (the very top) you will only hear Layer 2. By holding the
Mod Wheel at 50%, you will hear both layers equally.
7 – Only Layer 2 will fade up or down (following the Modwheel), while the
Layer 1 stays at a full volume. In effect, this is like fading Layer 2 in over
the top of Layer 2.
Both Layers stay at equal volumes. This disables any sort of blending between
layers.
Note that if you only have one Layer active, then the active Layer
(either Layer 1 or Layer 2) stays at full volume, no matter which Mod Wheel
Behavior option is selected. Of course, if the Expression button is active
(which we’re about to explain), then the Mod Wheel will indeed control volume.
- EXPRESSION” Button – Expression (like volume) is always available with CC11, but you also have the option of having the Mod Wheel control Expression by engaging the “EXPRESSION” button.
LAYER CONTROLS
- ON/OFF BUTTONS – Above the Menu Bars are the On/Off buttons, which are labeled “Layer 1” or “Layer 2”. At least one of these buttons must be on for the instrument to make a sound.
- MENU BAR – Clicking the Menu Bar (underneath where it says “Layer 1” or “Layer 2” will bring up a list of Categories (left column), Sub-Categories (second column), and Articulations (right side). A Subcategory must be selected before you can view and select an Articulation.
- There are NexVPrev arrows next to the Menu Bars, which will cycle through the articulations, although they stay within the selected Subcategory.
- EFFECT “QUICK CONTROL” KNOBS- There are six effects for each layer: Tone, Distortion, Filter, Motion (Pulse or Autopan), Delay, and Reverb. Each effect is represented by a graphical symbol. Click on an effect’s symbol to open a dedicated panel of fine controls for that effect, such as different distortion or filter types, pulse and delay speed settings, and so on. The Quick Control knobs will adjust the “amount” of the effect applied, whether the panel is open or not.
- MODWHEEL LINKS – We often call these the “Blue Dots,” since they are blue lights when you turn them on. When engaged, the Modwheel will control the Quick Control knob (and thus, the amount) of the effect shown above the blue dot. This is especially handy for Filter, EQ and Pulse. Note that you can also make custom curves for the Modwheel’s behavior for each effect, including maximum and minimum values, which we explain in the next chapter …
EFFECT PANEL
Here we see an example of the “Motion” panel being opened, by clicking that
squiggly line (now highlighted in yellow) under the fourth “Quick Control”
knob from the left. Note that the Blue Dot is also engaged, so the Modwheel
will control how much “pulsing” this effect will do. Under the “Intensity”
knob in the middle of the panel, you’ll notice the Icon has a yellow/grey line
underneath. This line is a switch, that lets you toggle between two
parameters. In the case of the Motion effect, you can toggle between Amplitude
(to create a pulse effect) or Auto pan. The filter effect also contains a
switch for toggling between a High-pass filter or a Low-pass filter. For
reference, the icon shown in the above image is of the Low-pass filter (It
will roll off the high frequencies as you turn up the knob). Note that when
the high-pass filter is engaged, turning the knob all the way up will result
in no sound. You must lower the knob to open the High-pass filter. When the
Modwheel link is engaged (either by clicking the Blue Dot, or by clicking the
“MW Link” button), the dark window appears where you can control what the
intensity will be at various mod wheel positions. For example, you could move
the left slider (the small blue triangle) all the way up and the right slider
all the way down, which would reverse the values of the Intensity knob. In
other words, the Motion intensity would be at maximum when the Modwheel is at
0, and the effect would be at O when the Modwheel is all the way up. You’ll
see the Intensity knob move along with the Modwheel, so you’ll know what it’s
doing. You can also move the round blue handle in the middle of the line for
extra control of the Modwheel’s effect. This allows you to draw in a “ramp”
for an exaggerated increase or decrease of the effect, or to hit the min/max
values before the modwheel reaches the end of its throw.
Note that changing the value of a slider will reset the round handle. The
Motion and Delay effects have a speed setting that can either be synchronized
to tempo or allow manual dialing of the speed of an LFO in Hz. In addition to
the speed setting, Motion offers a selection of waveshapes for affecting
either pulse or autopen.
IMPORTANT
The TONE and FILTER effects will reset to their defaults when you select
a different articulation. If you want your custom values to be stored with
that articulation, we recommend either using the User Presets system, or you
can save your own snapshot file by using Kontakt’s in-built snapshots feature.
SOURCE CONTROLS
Volume, Pan, Attack, and Release… But wait, there’s more!
At the bottom of the interface, you’ll find the source controls. Hese are
positioned as Layer 1 on the left, and Layer 2 on the right, as you’d expect!
The controls might seem obvious at a glance, but if you look at the “vOL” or
“PAN” Control, you’ll notice the yellow/grey toggle switches we talked about
in the previous category. Well, if you click the “VOL” (volume) label, a “VEL”
(velocity) control will appear for dialing in the velocity response for that
specific articulation. If you click the “PAN” label, a “Width” control will
appear, giving more control over the stereo image of your selected sOunds.
Using the toggle switches is primarily a way to hide some of the less common
settings in order to keep the interface clean and uncluttered.
IMPORTANT
In this version of the instrument, selecting a new articulation will reset
these knobs to their default values for that sound category. All categories
share the same Volume, Pan, and Width defaults, however… the velocity response
and Atk/Rel values might change. For instance, selecting an articulation from
the Shorts category will turn UP the velocity response Control. This is
necessary for articulations to respond to how hard you play your MIDI keyboard
or respond to programmed note velocity. Similarly, the Release value will turn
DOWN if you select a Pulse or Loop, to prevent an unwanted “fade-out” effect
when triggering rhythmic sounds. lf you customize these controls for a
particular articulation, be aware that changing articulation will lose those
custom settings. We suggest you use the User Presets system in order to save
your custom configuration. Alternatively, you can use Kontakt’s in-built
Snapshots feature.
ACTIVITY WINDOW
The Activity Window gives a graphical representation of the articulations you have selected, as well as visual feedback of when each element is triggered. The Blue Ring along the outside edge represents your Modwheel (CC) activity. The Layers will glow (or flash, if a Repetition is selected) when you play notes. Fancy, right?
USER PRESETS
This is on the upper right of the interface. Think of it as a bank of up to 6 configurations of your choice. Click the “* symbol on any of the sixX available buttons to save your current configuration as a recallable preset. Once added, a number will appear that you can click to recall that preset. You can also recall user presets using keyswitches, represented by the Red Keys in the Mapping window, or on Kontakt’s keyboard display. Note that you can select the range and positioning of the Red Keys from the Keyboard Mapping page. To clear a preset, click the little “x” button to the side of the preset slot.
MASTER PRESETS
This is on the upper left of the interface. Click the left/right arrows to audition the various presets we’ve created to give you an idea of what Nightfall can do. And don’t forget to use that mod wheel!
KEYBOARD MAPPING
Sometimes, especially with the “Loops” articulations, we want one of the layers to only be active for the low notes. Other times, you might want only high notes for one Layer’s articulation, while you want the full range for the other Layer.. No problem! Click the “Keyboard Mapping” button at the bottom of the GUl and this window will appear. You can adjust the keyboard range for Layer 1 by moving the white slider handles underneath the keyboard picture, or adjust the range for Layer 2 by moving the white handles above the keyboard. (Layer 1= Bottom Layer, Layer 2-=Top Layer, remember?) Note that Layer 1 keys are blue and Layer 2 keys are green. When their ranges overlap (which is most of the time), the overlapping range is denoted by cyan (blue/green) keys. You can also move the location of the User Preset keyswitches (red keys). To the right of each layer’s range slider is an octave (“8ve”) control, allowing you to shift ayer’s sounds up or down an octave or two.
Notes on the pre-release version: We’re pretty dang happy with how Nightfall has turned out, and by all intents and purpases, consider it a finished product. However.. you should be aware that certain tweaks and/or changes are always a possibility between now and getting the instrument encoded by Native Instruments, so we do encourage you to take advantage of the FREE NKS upgrade (when it becomes available) so that you don’t miss out!
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