discoDSP HighLife

Users Manual

https://www.discoDSP.com/
Installation

To install HighLife, simply run the provided installation application.

Description

HighLife is a performance sampler including sample editor, five built in effects, flexible
modulation route and morphable scheme.

Features

Overview

● Built-in wave editor.

● 32-Bit floating point based wavetables.
● 128 Programs with unlimited zones.
● Up to 32 voices polyphony (Multilayered zone sampling engine)
● Selectable interpolation engines: Hermite, Sinc 64 and Sinc 512.
Sinc modes are not suitable for realtime purposes but bouncing to audio.
● Morphable scheme and automatable zone parameters (incl. cue and loop points).
● Syncable LFO with configurable Phase.
● Stepping-free modulation sends, pitch bend and modulation to morphing wheels.

Sampler Import formats

● Auto mapping when multiple files are opened at once.

● Samples: WAV, MP3, OGG, RAW, FLAC.
● Programs: .AKP (Akai S5000/S6000), SFZ.

Sampler Export formats

● Samples: WAV.
● Programs: SFZ.
Program overview

● Unlimited zones.
● ADSR amplitude envelope
● ADSR enveloped filter and pitch assignable (both bipolar).
● -24dB/Oct filter modes: Lowpass/Hipass/Bandpass/Notch and disabled.
● Stepping-free Cutoff and Resonance.
● High quality Chorus, delay and reverb
● Wow factor effects: Daft and rock da disco.
● Full mono/poly and legato operation.

Zones overview

● Independent envelope amplitude, modulation envelope, LFO and filter settings.

● Automatable zone parameters (including cue and loop points).
● Up to 128 MIDI triggerable cues, with different start/end and loop settings each.
● Automatable per-cue pos/end/loop points, supporting swapping of cue range/loop
● markers.
● 4 Loop types (forward, bidirectional, backward, forward w/sustain).
● Group/Off by triggering settings.
● Amp Env, Mod Env and LFO (syncable), 24dB Filter (5 Types)
● Full MIDI Input triggering control.
● Chorus, delay and reverb sends.
● Glide with auto-switch control.

Sample editor overview

● Zoom up to 1:1 resolution.

● Clipboard: Cut, copy, paste and sample trim.
● Amplitude: Fade in/out, normalization and DC removal.
● Effects: Reverse, rectifier, sin/tahn drive, enhance, smooth.
● Cues and loops editing.
Morphing

HighLife layer contains two internal states: morph source and morph sensibility. Each
state contains a unique set of all values. Morphing allows you to easily glide between
these values.

The morph sensibility state is seen thru alpha blend, and can be modified by using
Command key while adjusting the knob or enabling/disabling at Options > Morph Edit.

Once both states have been defined, you can easily morph between them by assigning
Wheel MOD or using standard MIDI velocity if Vel > Mod is assigned.

This picture shows a morphed knob state. The first value is located at eleven o’clock and
morph state at two o’clock. It will result in a filter cutoff increase when using the mod
wheel or MIDI velocity if assigned.
Programs

HighLife can manage up to 128 programs, with an unlimited amount of zones each.
Architecture is designed as follows:

Program Options

● Master volume: Controls the amount of volume in the instance, starting at 0dB.
This is a global setting.

● Pitch Bend Range, Glide and Auto Glide are zone related.

● Pitch Bend Range: The pitch bender allows you to drastically change the pitch of
the current patch in real-time. You can modify the pitch bend range from 1 to 24
semitones.

● Glide: Glides the pitch between the current note and a newly played note. The
higher the value, the slower the transition progresses.

● Auto glide: When this led is enabled (by clicking it), the glide/portamento will be
only applied if overlapping notes are played (legato).

Options > Engine settings will be applied to a single instance in the project.

Options > Global Parameter Edit enabled will affect all editable zones (filter modes,
knobs) in the same program. Using Shift+Cmd/Control+mouse will have the same
effect. ADSR led will turn orange once this mode is on.

Play Modes

● Mono: 1 voice is used for the layer. In this mode any note played will discontinue
the previous note.

● Legato: A monophonic mode in which envelopes are not restarted when new keys
are played.

● Poly: Polyphonic mode allows multiple notes to be played at once.

Filter Section

Once the samples are mixed, sound is next routed through the HighLife filter section.
This section will transform the frequency response of the signal.

A filter is a unit that changes the magnitude of a range of frequencies of the sound,
boosting or cutting these frequency values.

Basic Filter controls

The two most common filter parameters are:

● Cutoff: This value sets the frequency point affected by the filter response.

● Q (aka Resonance): This value determines the amount of amplification of the

range of frequencies surrounding the frequency (cutoff) point.

● Key > Track: Filtering applied thru the keyboard based on the note position..

● Vel > Track: Filtering applied thru the keyboard based on the MIDI velocity.

Filter Types

HighLife has 4 Zero Delay Feedback filter types plus a disabled mode. You may toggle
through these using the leds located in the Filter area.

Available filter types follow:

● BR: Notch filter will cut the frequency range surrounding the Cutoff point, and will
be processed thru the 24dB Lowpass filter explained above, but using a slightly
shifted Cutoff frequency. Using this with high Resonance amounts will result in
interesting vocal formants effects.

● LP: A 4 pole Lowpass Filter with -24dB per octave rolloff. This functions similar to
the LP 12db, but with a steeper frequency curve response.

● BP: A Bandpass Filter, which allows only the frequency range surrounding cutoff
point to pass through. Resonance controls the size of this bandwidth.

● HP: The opposite of the Lowpass filters, the Highpass will pass frequencies above
the cutoff point and will cut all range below. This filter type has a rolloff of -24dB
per octave.
Amplitude Envelope

Amplifier applies an envelope to the output gain of the current sound. The following
controls apply:

● Attack: Controls for the time that envelope moves from note press (0) to full
volume. (Does not apply to legato mode).

● Decay: This knob controls the time length between envelope gain goes from upper
point (end of Attack) to Sustain level.

● Sustain: Sets the point at which the envelope stays while note is held. This state
is held until the note is release.

● Release: Once the note is released, this knob will control the time in which the
gain will fall from current envelope point (Sustain) into complete silence, finishing
the voice use.

Note: Longer releases can result in many simultaneous voices and higher CPU usage.

● Amount: Adjusts the overall amount of the envelope.

● Vel > Amp: Adjust the overall volume of the instruments related to MIDI velocity.

● Vel > Mod: Adjust the overall morphing of the program related to MIDI velocity.
Modulation Envelope

Modulation Envelope allows easy ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) envelope
based modulation of the filter Cutoff and Pitch control.

● Attack: Controls for the time in which the filter / pitch envelope moves from 0 (note
play) to full filter (based on the Envelope Amount, below).

● Decay: Controls the time length between the end of attack and the sustain level.

● Sustain: Sets the filter / pitch point at which envelope stays while note is
continually pressed, once attack and decay have completed.

● Release: Begins once the note is released, controlling the time the gain will fall
from current envelope point (Sustain) until complete.

● Envelope > Cutoff Amount: The Envelope Amount option controls the amount of
the filter envelope. The < > arrows means it’s of a bipolar nature.

● Envelope > Pitch Amount: The Envelope Amount option controls the amount of
the filter envelope. < > arrows means it’s of a bipolar nature.

Modulation LFO

Modulation LFO allows to create more expressive sounds by routing the internal
Low Frequency Oscillator to four sends.

● Phase: Changes the value of the starting point of the LFO. If you want a free
running LFO set it to max value.

● Rate: Velocity of the LFO. It can be synced to host tempo by clicking of the sync
led.

● Destinations: The following destinations are available to the Modulation LFO:

● Amp: Amplitude.
● Cutoff: Filter cutoff. Bipolar value.
● Q: Filter Resonance. Bipolar value.
● Pitch: Global pitch by a range of two octaves. Bipolar value.
Effects

Chorus

● Level: Amount of the chorus applied. Turning it to minimum values bypass it.
● Delay: Controls how much of the signal is captured and repeated.
● Fdback: How many times the signal is repeated.
● Rate: LFO amount.
● Mod: LFO amount.

Delay

● Level: Amount of the delay applied. Turning it to minimum values bypass it.
Delay can be synced or switched to cross delay by clicking the buttons in the
section.
● Delay: Controls how much of the signal is captured and repeated
● Fdback: This controls how many times the delayed signal is repeated.

Reverb

● Level: Amount of the reverb applied. Turning it to minimum values bypass it

● Room and width: This sets the length of time that the reverb lasts for - higher
settings simulate larger spaces.
● Damp: Controls the rate at which reverberant energy is absorbed by the various
surfaces in the environment.

Wow-FX

These effects are program based.

● Daft: Special effect for those Daft sounds.

● Rock Da Disco: Instant sound puncher and pumper.
Zone Edit

In order to configure the rest of the Zone parameters after importing samples, you may
switch to Editor mode by clicking Edit button.

Zone Edit properties

In the following area you can see and modify specific zone properties:

Information properties

● Zone: Name of the active zone. Click LED fonts to display a rename dialog.
● File: If available, path of the loaded zone. Use < > arrows to load previous/next
wave located on the same folder. Click LED fonts to display file path or browse a
new sample.
● Chan: Waveform channels.
● Rate: Waveform sample rate.
● Size: Waveform size.

Editable properties

In order to edit the following properties you need to left click the LCD, hold and move
your mouse up or down.

● Gain: Gain in dB.

● Panning: Panning.

● Coar: Transposition value in semitones.

● Fine: Transposition value in cents.
● Kc: Defines how much the pitch variates with every note. Default value is 100,
which means pitch will variate one hundred cents (one semitone) per played note.
Setting this value to zero means that all notes in the region will play the same
pitch, particularly useful when mapping drum or sliced sounds.
● Group: Exclusive group number.
● Off: Region off zone. When a new zone with a group number equal to off plays, this
zone will be turned off..
● Tg: Sets the trigger which will be used for the sample to play. Value can be either
attack (plays on note-on), or release (plays on note-off).
● Root: Root note. It will be used as reference once multiple cues are setup.
● Vel XXX to YYY: Velocity range the zone will respond to.
● Key XX to YY: Note range the zone will respond to. Left click to display full octave
range drop down menu.
● Sync: Enables a loaded wave sync to host tempo. If a loop is loaded HighLife will
set the number of ticks required to sync properly. This feature may be used with
cue points as well.
Sample editor

In addition to zone parameters, HighLife also comes with a built in sample editor able to
do basic audio operations, several effects and cue/loop edition.

Editing tips

● Double clicking selects all the active sample window.

● Once the wave is zoomed, scrolling can be made with scrollbar or mouse wheel.

● In order to activate any looping, you must set a cue first, which will be played at
the defined root note.

● Wave zoom can be quickly done using SHIFT + mouse wheel.

Version History

Release 2.2

● Introduced HiDPI compatibility and GUI resizing feature in the Options menu.
● Improved the user experience with various enhancements.
● Added support for importing the SFZ defaultPath opcode with relative path.

Release 2.1

● Introduced compatibility for Akai MPC 2000 SND file format.

● Enhanced the functionality of file dialog system.
● Support for ProTools AAX plug-in format (Windows and macOS Universal).

Release 2.0

● Binary builds for macOS Universal 2, designed natively for Apple Silicon.
● Comprehensive updates to the graphical user interface (GUI) look and feel.
● Flawless OGG, WAV, FLAC, MP3 loaders, ensuring improved reliability.
● Framework updates of major significance.
● New, visually appealing application icon.
● Optimizations to the sampling engine for superior performance.
● Standalone and VST3 builds for wide-ranging compatibility.

Release 1.3.0

● New LowPass, HighPass, BandPass and BandReject Zero Delay Feedback filters.
● Edit > Wave Editor <-> cursors on wave selection borders.
● Edit > Wave Editor Mouse wheel zoom based on mouse cursor position,
Shift+Mouse wheel for quick zoom.
● Edit > Wave Editor Zoom in/out based on active selection.
● Drag'n'drop support (any supported wave sample/sfz programs if empty) Shift+Drop
bypass sample replacement dialog.
● Options > Global Parameter Edit (On/Off) or using Shift+Ctrl/Cmd. ADSR led will be
on when enabled.
● Options > Morph Edit (Tick On/Off).
● Edit > Properties < > File arrows browse sample folder on Edit > Sample Properties.
● Zone > Duplicate Zone, Delete All Zones functions.

Release 1.2.3a

● Enhanced waveform scroll supporting horizontal axis.

● Fixed waveform behavior with devices supporting inertia scrolling.
● Changed waveform mouse zoom to SHIFT + up/down or left/right wheel on Mac.
CTRL for Linux/Windows.
● Fixed Chorus FX not sounding correctly.
● Fixed SFZ export.

Release 1.2.3
 ● Reworked wave editor view:
● Scrollbar.
● Mouse wheel scroll and zoom in/out with control key+wheel.
● Zoom out limited to the wave length.
● Selection active if > 2px. Full wave acts as selected when no selection is
active.
● Enhanced waveform visualization at higher zoom levels.
● Import/Export Sample/Program dialog opens at active sample Zone/Program path,
falling back to last location when not available (default starts at user's Documents
folder)
● Automatically enabled Edit menu items.
● Morphing opacity support to FX sends.

Release 1.2.2

● Cue/Loop points are removed after wave trim if they are not on the range.
● Auto adjust wave size after operation on wave.
● Drop down menus for Root / Key / To.
● < > buttons to browse waves in the current folder.
● Rename Zone function.

Release 1.2.1

● Fixed Options > Change zone on MIDI note behavior.

● A playing position line is displayed on wave area.
● FX Chorus/Delay/Reverb sends are enabled by default.
● Delay sync to tempo is enabled on by default.
● Fixed AU version number.

Release 1.2

● Panning now uses Michael Gogins law.

● EDIT > Cue > Add cues from sync. Adds distributed cue samples from Sync
number.
● File > Import Sample Auto-Drum-Machine spread when selected several samples.
● Improved dialog windows.
● Broader LCD display.
● High contrast popup menus.
● Better color theme for wave display.
● Better preset init configuration. MIDI note to zone off by default.
● Removed MIDI keyboard.

Release 1.1

First release.
Copyright

discoDSP HighLife © discoDSP