KickLab XXL Manual
Virtual kickdrum designer
A Guide to Use
Kicklab XXL is a Vsti instrument. Add Kicklab to your VST Instrument rack or channel
and send it a single midi note (eg C1) to trigger a kick sound. Sending a single midi
note will trigger both the Virtual and Sample sections of Kicklab together at the same
time.
The most important thing to decide on first is which sound generator is going to be
responsible for the sub of your Kick, the Virtual Kick section or the Sample section.
As sub information is primarily sine wave there can be only one sound generator
responsible for supplying the sub information of your kick, otherwise you will end up
with random cancellation of sub frequencies and a combing effect that will make your
kick sound far from ideal in a club. It can also make your Kick randomly change its
characteristics as the sub sine waves fight it out for supremecy, as well as introduce
unwanted peaks and distortion. This is obviously to be avoided.
Build your Kick from the ground up in layers, starting with the sub, and use the high-
pass filter supplied from the appropriate section to remove the sub from the
secondary Kick sound you are going use. Other advanced fiter types are also supplied
and may prove to be more suitable.
Give yourself plenty of “headroom” in Kicklab XXL when you start creating your kick,
as volume levels can later creep up in many sections, including high Resonance, Punch
or EQ settings. Start with low Volume knob settings for each section. The meters are
there to visually notify you when internal clipping is likely to occur. High volume levels
or clipping will, aside from adding distortion, traditionally reduce the deep sub bass
power and response of your kick, so keep your levels reasonable. Use your ears.
Preferable the virtual and sample sections are set at the same pitch frequency in
correspondance with the key of the composition, however this is certainly not
mandatory as no formula is the right one, but preferable keep harmonics as much as
possible in the mid and high frequency range to avoid cancellation of sub.
Another method of tackling cancellation is to adjust the pitch of each sound generator
or change the phase of one of the generators and hear how the virtual and sampler
kick sounds interact together and how the overall Kick sound changes, most notibly
the sub and lower mid frequencies.
Adjust the timing of one of the Kick sound generators with the “trig delay” knobs and
pay attention to how any cancellation evolves as the two sounds morph. The different
waveforms align differently in time, thus changing or at best solving the occurance of
any cancellation.
Trim the start or end of the Kick sample to reduce noise or unwanted extra sound
information, think less is more.
Eq your resultant sound further with the EQ section and and perhaps add some
Saturation. Set volume levels for each section, adjust your overall output level with
the Output Fader guided by the meters and choose to possibly send the Kicklab XXL
sound generators to separate outputs to provide further individual processing (such as
compression) in your DAW. You are well on your way to your own slammin’ Kick!
