Pianos

A piano library (.npno) holds one recording, called a stroke, per root note, bank and velocity layer. The editor is for choosing which strokes go to the instrument, so that a library fits the memory it has free, and for setting how it plays.

Edits are a plan

An edit does not rewrite the library. It is a plan over the saved file, shown at once, and every switch can be turned back on. The file is laid out only when it has to be: on Save, Export, or Queue send. The header reads applying… while that runs, and the action waits for it.

The key map

Each root has a cell over the keys it answers, showing the megabytes it keeps. Drag the boundary between two roots to move keys, and the outer ends to cover or uncover keys. Click a key to hear which root answers it. Keys above the damper limit are shaded.

Trim to fit

A list of switches, each with the size it keeps: one per velocity layer, Pedal resonance, Release samples, and Keys, which narrows the range to the middle of the keyboard. Beside them, a meter compares the library with the free piano memory the instrument reports, and a sentence names the cheapest cut that would make it fit. A library that does not fit cannot be queued.

Velocity layers goes finer: one lane per layer, one segment per root. Click a segment to drop that layer for that root only.

Playback

Instrument gain, the damper limit (Keys ring on above), and Kind, which is what the instrument files the library under. Kind changes nothing about the sound.

Roots lists each root with its strokes. There you can trim a stroke in dB, audition the root, save it as a WAV, or drop it. Per key paints a fine tune across the keyboard.

A new library

New ▸ Piano library… takes one WAV per stroke. A file named like 060-b0-l00.wav fills in its root (MIDI note 60), bank and layer for you. Otherwise set them in the dialog. Template builds on a library already on this computer, and the default builds from drawbar’s own rules. Set the kind, gain and damper limit in the new document afterwards.

Libraries drawbar has built or trimmed play on an instrument across every key. Renames, retunes and remaps have not been played. See What is supported.

Sending

Queue a library from its header. It is checked against the instrument and its free space first. Libraries are far larger than what drawbar keeps between sessions, so export what you want to keep.