Key Switches in the Note Editor
Create an Instrument Track and load “Nylon Guitar Full” from the Presence XT core library. Next, press [F2] to open the Note Editor, then click the keyboard icon in the Note Editor toolbar to select the Piano View.
Now scroll down to C0 on the vertical keyboard and notice the highlighted keys. These indicate the presence of Key Switches. The lanes in the Note Editor are highlighted for those notes too. The names of the Key Switches appear inside the lanes at a medium vertical zoom setting.
Automation Lane for Key Switches
The Note Editor has an Automation lane for the Key Switches as well. To view and edit Key Switches in an Automation lane, open the Note Editor [F2], click the Show/hide Automation Lanes button (), and then click the Key Switches Parameter tab at the top of the lane. This tab is available in the Piano and Drum views.
When Key Switch notes are entered in the Track, an equivalent entry appears in the Automation lane as well. This entry remains in effect until another Key Switch note is entered, and so the colored bar stretches until the next Key Switch note event.
To change the Key Switch that is used for a particular passage, first select the Key Switch you want to change in the Automation lane, then click and hold its name and select the desired Key Switch from the menu that appears. You can also enter or edit Key Switches in the Automation lane using the pencil tool.
Key Switches, Transposition, and Note FX
In order to avoid conflicts with musical actions (such as transpose) or processing with Note FX or the Chord Track, Key Switches are filtered and excluded from any type of playback processing.
Instruments that report their Key Switches to Studio One (such as Presence XT) display articulations with their names automatically. For example, load “Nylon Guitar Full” from the Presence XT core library. Notice the highlighted key switches in Piano View. These keys will be unaffected if the Instrument Track is transposed, and they will not be triggered by Note FX such as an arpeggiator. This way you can re-use a particular guitar articulation in other locations, for example, even as the other notes follow the Chord Track.
Custom Key Switch Maps
Other instruments (such as third-party samplers and orchestra libraries) can be mapped manually using mapping presets. To open the Key Switch Editor, click the wrench button on the left side of the Automation lane. (You won't see the wrench button if you're using Presence XT or a third-party VST2/VST3 instrument that supports Key Switch query. All current UJAM Virtual Bassist and Beatmaker products support Key Switch query.) A window like this will appear:
This can be done in stages, if you like. Start by adding a few: Enter the pitches with your controller keyboard, name the ones you have entered, and then select Store Preset... from the menu to the left of the preset name. You can re-select this Key Switch map at any time and add some more. Be sure to use the Update Preset option next time to add the new Key Switches to your preset map.
Custom Key Switch maps can be re-used for any sample library that follows the same Key Switch layout. For added convenience, custom Key Switch maps can be saved with Instrument+FX presets (which also save channel insert and send fx).