The Turtle Beach Multisound Pinnacle uses the advanced Kurzweil MA-1 chip set,
an extremely powerful synthesizer with extensive editing capabilities.  The
Pinnacle Patch Editor allows you to create rich and complex instrument patches
with complete control over the Kurzweil MA-1 synthesizer.  Using the Pinnacle
Patch Editor you'll be able to create new patches from either existing ROM
samples or your own custom samples from .WAV files.

The Pinnacle Patch Editor is available as a free download from our website:
http://www.tbeach.com

This tutorial covers the basics of loading pre-made sounds into the Pinnacle's
Kurzweil sampler.


PART 1
LOADING SAMPLES

Many people want to take advantage of the free resources and downloads
available on the Internet.  You can find complete sample libraries for a
variety of sampling synthesizers.

To take fullest advantage of these libraries, it's a good idea to invest in a
program like Awave (http://www.fmjsoft.com).

Awave can convert back and forth between the most popular sound sample
formats.  Using Awave, you can convert sound libraries from other devices into
the Turtle Beach Pinnacle's native sampler format.



TERMINOLOGY

Samples – 
These are individual sounds stored in a small digital recording.  Samples are
the basic building blocks of a Patch.

Patches – 
The actual playable end result that usually maps the entire keyboard.  A patch
may have just one sample in it (like a trumpet) or it may have many samples in
it (like an orchestral hit).

Bank – 
A collection of patches.   A bank usually has 128 patches in it.  Most modern
MIDI synthesizers have more than the 128 basic General MIDI sounds, organized
in multiple banks (Bank 0 is the basic set, Bank 1 is the first extended set,
etc.). 



LOADING SOUNDS USING THE PINNACLE PATCH EDITOR
 
Most users will start out by loading in the many pre-made sounds available
from the Internet and will learn the more advanced programming techniques
later.

To load sounds, you will only have to deal with the first screen of the Patch
Editor: the Bank Page.



THE BANK PAGE



This screen is divided into two main sections: the Current Bank and the
Scratch Bank.

The Current Bank shows the actual sounds that are currently loaded into the
Pinnacle.

The Scratch Bank is a workspace where you can put stuff temporarily.  You can
never play or hear anything loaded into the scratch bank.   

The purpose of this setup is to allow you to choose only the specific sounds
you desire from the Scratch Bank.  You then load that sound by moving it to
the Current Bank.

In simpler terms:
- If you move something from the Scratch Bank into the Current Bank, you are
physically loading it into the Pinnacle.  

- If you move something from the Current Bank into the Scratch Bank, you are
unloading that sound from the Pinnacle.

To move a patch, click on it once to highlight it, then drag it to the patch
location you desire on the opposite menu.  After a moment, the patch name (and
the patch) will load into the specified place.

In addition, you can Cut, Copy and Paste patches from one bank or patch
location to another using the Copy, Cut, Paste buttons or the common keyboard
commands – Ctrl + X (Cut), Ctrl + C (Copy) and Ctrl + V (Paste). 

To hear a patch, highlight it and then play the virtual keyboard at the bottom
of the screen.
  


DRUMS

Many users are confused when it comes to loading drums into the Pinnacle.  
The Pinnacle, by default, has drums on channel 10.  However, if you are
loading a custom drum bank into the Pinnacle, you must load it as a regular
patch.

The Pinnacle treats a custom drum patch exactly the same as any other patch:
be it piano, trumpet, or otherwise.  The Pinnacle sees them, loads them, and
plays them all the same way.

This means you can load your drum set in as any patch number and play it on
any MIDI channel, just like any other Pinnacle patch (treat your drum patch
like a glorified piano patch). 

Here's an example:

In the following picture, I've loaded a custom drum patch into the scratch
bank. 




I'll load it into the Pinnacle now by dragging it to the other screen.  
I'll replace patch # 1 - 'Bright Grand' – with my drum patch.





Now when I dial in patch 1 on my sequencer, I hear the drums sounding when I
play the keys. 



GENERAL NOTES ON THE PINNACLE

There are two limitations you must keep an eye on when you are programming
your patches:  

1) The amount of memory you have installed on the Pinnacle (RAM installed) –
each sample will eat up some of your RAM space on the Pinnacle.  Do not load
more samples on the Pinnacle than you have enough RAM to handle.   

2) The maximum number of patches the Pinnacle can handle – even if you load a
lot of very small samples to conserve space, there will still be a limitation
on the maximum number of patches.  The Pinnacle allows for 4 banks of 128
patches each.  This means you can have up to 512 patches loaded on the
Pinnacle at a time.

EXAMPLE:  If you download a SoundFont with more than 512 patches
(instruments), you will have to break it up into 2 or more smaller sound fonts
in Awave.  Convert to 2 smaller files into 2 separate Pinnacle Sound Banks. 


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