ARIA products operates a little differently from many other software instrument libraries. There are four essential controls. By familiarizing yourself with how these controls interact, you are well on your way to achieving superior results from your library.

Modulation wheel —For woodwind, brass, and string instruments, the mod wheel controls the volume of the sound and its timbre. Constant motion on the mod wheel breathes life into these instruments. It is essential to use the mod wheel to get the most out of your samples library! The mod wheel has no effect on percussion instruments, with the exception of snare drum rolls and other similar patches, where it controls dynamics. In sequencers, mod wheel data is expressed as MIDI continuous controller (CC) #1.

Note Velocity —For woodwind, brass, and string instruments, how hard you strike a key de- termines the strength of the attack of the note. A stronger hit produces a more accented attack. The mod wheel still controls the overall volume level. For percussion instruments, pizzicato strings, and other sounds produced by plucking or striking, note velocity controls the volume of the sample.

Sustain Pedal —For woodwind, brass, and string instruments, the sustain pedal activates legato mode. While playing a Solo instrument and with the pedal depressed, sample transitions are smoothed to simulate legato playing. For pianos and keyboards, it behaves as a traditional sustain pedal. For percussion instruments such as the vibraphone, harps, and timpani, it toggles between sustained and dampened techniques. The sustain pedal is expressed as CC#64 in sequencers.

Keyswitches —Keyswitches are special notes on the keyboard that you can hit to trigger the program to switch to another playing technique of an instrument. This feature allows you to quickly move between pizzicato and arco strings, for example. Instruments with keyswitches have a “KS” next to their name. The keyswitch locations are shown in red on the ARIA key- board. The name of the active keyswitch is shown to the left of the keyboard.