Global Controls in Valves Pro Player

Clicking the Random button will create new settings for each of the instruments and the sequencers. This is a useful way to quickly come up with new sounds and patterns without having to make all the settings yourself. New settings will be created for each of the five instruments unless any instrument has been locked in which case it will not be changed.

Moments represent different sequencer patterns for each of the five instruments. The Moments slider can be moved left or right to place patterns A,B or C into the sequencer for each instrument. With the slider fully to the left, each sequencer will use pattern A. As you begin to move it to the right, pattern B will be introduced gradually in ascending order into instruments one to five. With the slider fully at position B, all five instruments will use pattern B. The same applies as you continue to move the slider to the right so that with the slider fully in the C position, all five sequencers will be using pattern C.

Moments controls in Valves Pro Player

The five circle displays show which of the patterns A, B or C are in use by each instrument. The segmented displays also indicate how complex each pattern is. A more solid circle represents a long, held note while a more segmented circle means that more repeated notes are contained in the pattern. The pattern in use for each instrument can be seen in greater detail and edited in the Sequencer page. Although the Moments are pre-set you can manually edit any sequence as part of a Moment and it will be saved as part of your snapshot or Kontakt preset.

The five tracks represent the five instruments used in Valves Pro Player. There are several controls available for each one which appear when you move the mouse over any of the circles.

When Retrigger is deactivated you can play a note to start playback of the instruments' sequencers and when you add more notes, the sequences will continue to play in a loop without restarting. The sequencers are not interrupted by the pressing of new notes.

When Retrigger is active however, pressing new notes will restart the sequencers of the instruments to which those notes are assigned based on their pitch. So for example when Retrigger is active, you could hold a low note which would be played by the tuba and then introduce a series of higher notes which would be played by the french horn or flugelhorn. As you kept playing new notes in the higher range, the sequences for the french horn and flugelhorn would be restarted with each new key press. The result is a more dynamic performance as the higher instruments play with more variation than simply looping their entire sequence on repeat.

The Dynamics control adjusts the overall dynamics of the instrument's articulations, while preserving their relative differences. Each articulation gets stronger or softer proportionate to its starting value. This means that the whole articulation sequence is changed in a way that sounds natural rather than softer and louder articulations all being equalized to the same level. It's a useful control for changing the playing style to be more forceful or to be softer but without having to change an instrument's volume in the mix.

Valves Pro uses samples that have been recorded at many different dynamic levels. When altering the dynamics of an instrument, the engine uses dedicated samples rather than simply changing volume levels. It employs smooth crossfading to move between velocity layers in real time to make the transitions seamless and achieve maximum creative expression.