Steinberg Anima Manuel utilisateur
Operation Manual
Matthias Klag, Michael Ruf
Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Lillie Harris, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Matthias Obrecht, Sabine Pfeifer,
Benjamin Schütte, Marita Sladek
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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on
the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License
Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specically allowed in the License Agreement. No
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without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Registered licensees of the product
described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use.
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© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2019.
All rights reserved.
Anima_1.0.0_en-US_2019-11-28
The Anima synth is a wavetable instrument using HALion’s wavteable synthesis which crossfades
the waves smoothly in real time based on an integrated wavetable envelope. This envelope
makes it very easy to control the playback of the wavetable, because no further modulation
settings are required. All you have to do is set up the Speed parameter. The modulation matrix
allows you to control the playback position of the oscillator using one of the integrated LFOs, the
velocity, or the modulation wheel, for example.
Anima provides two wavetable oscillators that can be used in parallel. Each oscillator features a
multi-oscillator that allows you to create up to eight additional voices for each oscillator and then
separately detune them and distribute them in the stereo panorama.
The sub oscillator comes with classic oscillator waves like sine, triangle, saw, square and two
different pulses, and also features a noise generator. The noise generator delivers a large
number of different noise types. These range from classic noises like white and pink noise over
drum attacks and rhythmical noises to specically ltered colored noises and unique circuit
noises, recorded from various electronic devices. This powerful collection of noises can be used
to add inharmonic frequencies to create atmospheric sound or add transients for rich and
percussive attacks, for example. The integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer allows you to
play rhythmic patterns and/or add modulations to the synthesis parameters using the three
available controller lanes.
The oscillator is followed by a multi-mode lter that offers a large number of different lter
shapes. The lter can be modulated by modulation sources like the keyboard, velocity, and LFO,
but also by the controller lanes of the step sequencer, for example.
Anima includes two monophonic LFOs that can be synchronized to the host tempo and allow you
to modulate a large number of modulation destinations using the modulation matrix. In
addition, a user-dened envelope can be assigned to destinations like Pitch, Pan, or Wavetable
parameters in the modulation matrix.
Anima contains six pages: Osc1, Osc2, Sub, Mod, Voice, and Arp. To show the settings for a
page, click the corresponding page button.
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If a page button itself contains an On/Off button, which is the case for the Arp page button, for
example, you can use this to activate/deactivate the corresponding element without having to
open the page rst.
Oscillator Pages
The Osc 1 and Osc 2 pages contain the settings for the two main oscillators.
● To show the settings for oscillator 1 or oscillator 2, click the corresponding button.
● To activate/deactivate an oscillator, click the On/Off button on the right of the
corresponding page button.
Select Wavetable
This pop-up menu allows you to select one of the included wavetables for the
wavetable oscillator.
Show 3D Wavetable Map/2D Wave
Toggles between displaying a single cycle of the current waveform and a
topographic map of the entire wavetable.
Retrigger Mode
● If Free Phase is selected, the behavior of analog synthesizers is emulated. The
oscillator is running freely and continuously.
● If Random Phase is selected, the start phase is randomly set to a different
value each time that you trigger a note. In contrast to Free Phase, there is no
continuity in the phase of the waveform.
● If Fixed Phase is selected, the oscillator runs with a xed start phase that can
be specied between 0 and 360 degrees.
Octave
Adjusts the pitch in octave steps.
Coarse
Adjusts the pitch in semitone steps.
Fine
Adjusts the pitch in cent steps. This allows you to ne-tune the oscillator sound.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the oscillator.
Pan
Adjusts the position of the oscillator in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
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Oscillator Pages
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Main Tab
Legato
If Legato is deactivated, each note starts playback from the position cursor.
If Legato is activated, the rst note starts playback from the position cursor, and any
following notes start from the current playback position for as long as the rst note
is held.
Sync to Host
Allows you to sync the wavetable to the beats and measures of your host application.
Loop Mode
●Off: If Playback Direction is set to a positive value, the wavetable plays from
the position cursor to the end.
If Playback Direction is set to a negative value, the wavetable plays from the
position cursor to the start.
●On: Depending on the Playback Direction setting, the wavetable plays
forward or backward in a loop.
●Alt: The wavetable plays in an alternate loop, that is, the loop is alternately
played forward and backward. The rst direction depends on the Playback
Direction setting.
Speed
Determines the rate at which the envelope plays through the wavetables. At +100 %,
the envelope plays back at its original speed. A value of +50 % corresponds to half
the original speed, and +200 % to twice the original speed, for example.
This parameter is unipolar.
Position
Determines where the envelope starts.
Playback Direction
Allows you to set the playback speed in smaller increments. Furthermore, this
parameter determines the playback direction.
● If you enter negative values, you reverse playback, that is, the playback
position moves backward through the wavetable.
Random Position
Adds a random value to the current position when you play a note.
For example, if you want the position to vary between 25.0 % and 75.0 %, set
Position to 25.0 % and Random Position to 50.0 %.
Random Direction
Adds a negative or positive random value to the current direction when you play a
note.
For example, if you want the direction to vary between -100 % and +100 %, set
Direction to 0.0 % and Random Direction to 100.0 %. If you want the direction to
vary within the full positive range, set Direction to 50 % and Random Direction to
50 %, for example.
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Oscillator Pages
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Form Tab
Formants are harmonics within the spectrum of a note which are pronounced and help to dene
the character of an instrument. The positions of the formants in the spectrum mainly depend on
the construction of an instrument, such as the body of a guitar, the form of the vocal tract in a
human body, the lter settings for electronic instruments, etc. These conditions lead to specic
frequency ranges that are emphasized regardless of the pitch of the note. Playing back samples
or wavetables with a different pitch than the original is usually done by increasing or decreasing
the playback speed. This leads to the well-known monster or Mickey Mouse effect, because all
harmonics are also affected, that is, the characteristic formants are shifted. To avoid this, you can
activate the Formant option.
On/Off
Activates/Deactivates the formant settings.
Formant
Allows you to shift the formants of the entire wavetable by a xed value.
Key Follow
Allows you to shift the formants depending on the played note.
● A value of 100 % means that the formant frequency moves with the played
note.
● A value of 0 % means that the formants are kept the same for all notes.
You can invert the behavior of the formant shift by setting Key Follow to negative
values.
Multi Tab
The multi-oscillator function allows you to trigger multiple voices simultaneously with each note
that you play. If you activate Multi, the following parameters become available:
●Number determines the number of oscillators that play back simultaneously. You can also
set fractions of numbers. For example, with a setting of 2.5, you hear two oscillators at full
level and a third one at half level.
●Detune detunes the oscillators.
●Pan narrows or widens the stereo panorama. With a setting of 0 %, you create a mono
signal and with 100 %, you create a stereo signal.
●Spread distributes the oscillators so that each oscillator plays from a different position in
the wavetable.
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Oscillator Pages
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Sub Page
The Sub page contains the settings for the sub oscillator and the noise oscillator.
Sub Oscillator Section
Type
The wave shape of the sub oscillator. You can choose between Sine, Triangle, Saw,
Square, Pulse Wide, and Pulse Narrow.
Retrigger Mode
● If Free Phase is selected, the behavior of analog synthesizers is emulated. The
oscillator is running freely and continuously.
● If Random Phase is selected, the start phase is randomly set to a different
value each time that you trigger a note. In contrast to Free Phase, there is no
continuity in the phase of the waveform.
● If Fixed Phase is selected, the oscillator runs with a xed start phase that can
be specied between 0 and 360 degrees.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the sub oscillator.
Pan
Adjusts the position of the oscillator in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
Noise Oscillator Section
The noise oscillator offers you a large amount of different noise types that can be used to add
inharmonic frequencies to the overall spectrum, either for the entire sound, with looped noises
or with one-shot noise samples. This allows you to add characteristic transients to percussive
instruments based on samples, for example.
Noise Type
This pop-up menu offers you a choice of classic noises, attack transients,
soundscapes, and ambience noise samples.
Level
Adjusts the output level of the noise oscillator.
Sync
Activate Sync to synchronize the speed of the noise oscillator to the host tempo. This
is particularly useful for rhythmic noises that are based on a tempo of 120 BPM.
Pan
Determines the position of the noise in the stereo panorama. At a setting of -100 %,
the sound is panned hard left, and at +100 %, it is panned hard right.
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Sub Page
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Follow Pitch
If Follow Pitch is activated, zone pitch settings like Octave, Coarse, and Fine, as well
as modulations like Glide, Pitchbend, or other pitch modulations, affect the duration
length. A higher sample pitch leads to a shorter duration.
If Follow Pitch is deactivated, the duration is independent of the zone pitch and
determined by the Duration settings.
Loop
Activate this button to play the noise sample in a loop.
If this button is not activated, the sample is played once.
Speed
Adjusts the playback speed of the noise sample. A setting of 800.0 % equals an
increase of three octaves in pitch.
Speed Key Follow
Allows you to adjust the speed modulation by MIDI note number. At a setting of
+100 %, the speed doubles per octave.
Start
Adjusts the start of the noise sample. With a value of 50 %, playback starts in the
middle of the sample.
Random Start
Selects a random playback start within a specic range around the current position.
At a setting of 100 %, the playback position jumps to a random position between the
specied Start value and the end of the noise sample.
Mod Page
The Mod page contains the modulation matrix.
The modulation matrix offers you up to 16 freely assignable modulations, each with a source, a
modier, and a destination with adjustable depth. The polarity of each source and each modier
can be switched between unipolar and bipolar.
Creating Modulations
You create modulations by selecting a source, a modier, and a destination from the pop-up
menus in the modulation matrix.
PROCEDURE
1. Click the modulation Source eld and select the modulation source.
2. Optional: Click in the modulation Modier eld and select the parameter that you want to
use to modify the modulation.
This modier is used to scale the output of the modulation source.
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Mod Page
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3. Optional: Specify whether you want the Source and Modier parameters to be unipolar or
bipolar.
4. Set the modulation intensity with the Depth parameter.
5. Click in the modulation Destination eld and select the parameter that you want to
modulate.
Modulation Matrix Parameters
Modulation Sources and Modulation Modiers
The following options are available as modulation sources and as modulation modiers.
LFO A/B
The LFOs A and B produce cyclic modulation signals.
Amp Envelope
The amplier envelope. The shape of the envelope determines the modulation
signal.
Filter Envelope
The lter envelope. The shape of the envelope determines the modulation signal.
Env 3
A freely assignable envelope. It is suitable for pan or pitch modulation, for example.
Key Follow
This produces an exponential modulation signal derived from the MIDI note number.
Exponential means this source works with destinations such as Pitch or Cutoff.
Note-on Velocity
Note-on velocity can be used as modulation signal.
Note-on Vel Squared
The squared version of Note-on Velocity. The harder you press the key, the higher
the modulation values.
Pitchbend
The position of the pitchbend wheel can be used as modulation signal.
Modulation Wheel
The position of the modulation wheel can be used as modulation signal.
Aftertouch
Aftertouch can be used as modulation signal. Some MIDI keyboards cannot send
aftertouch messages. However, most sequencer software is able to produce such
messages.
Arp Controller 1–3
The 3 controllers available on this submenu correspond to the three controller lanes
on the Arp page.
Bus 1–8
Modulations that are sent to one of the eight busses can be reused as sources. This
way, you can combine several modulations to produce more complex signals.
Quick Control 1–8
The quick controls can be used as modulation signal.
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Mod Page
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Table des matières
