StageReady: Ambient Pad Player

Learn how to trigger an automatic pad and adjust the way it sounds

Daniel Ferguson avatar
Written by Daniel Ferguson
Updated over a week ago

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The Ambient Pad Player in StageReady is designed to fill out your sound and help smooth out your transitions between songs.

Select the desired key for the pad, touch the 'Drone On' button on mixer channel 7, and choose the sound you want using the 'Sound Selector' control.

Note that the key selector for the Ambient Pad operates separately to the patch Transposer. This is designed so changing patches doesn't interrupt the Ambient Pad sound or key. You could even trigger a pad in the next key before moving on to the next sound.

Controls

The Ambient Pad section has 8 rotary controls to shape the sound further, a level meter to visualize volume output, and 12 buttons to select the key of the pad.

Shimmer: Use the Shimmer control to add octaves and reverb above the selected pad sound. This sound is commonly used in worship to add more atmosphere and depth to your pad.

Reverb: Add some extra reverb to your pad to wash it out and push it further back into the mix.

Motion: Turning up the Motion macro will add subtle dynamic and stereo motion to the pad. Turning this control down will keep the volume and stereo levels consistent.

Soften: The Soften macro will adjust the overall impact of the pad. Use this control to bring a subtle clarity to the top end and pull out some of the low-mid frequencies for a lighter, softer pad.

Low Cut: The "Low Cut" control knob will scoop out the lower frequencies to reduce the weight and boom of the sound. If your pad is a little too distracting or is battling for space with the piano, turn this up to make space.

Mids: The "Mids" control knob will adjust the gain of the low-mid frequencies in the pad buss (around 450hz). Increasing the "Mids" knob will boost this low mid frequency range and decreasing will pull out the low-mids up to 24 db. This can be useful when performing with others to create space in the frequency spectrum for other instruments and vocals.

High Cut: The "High Cut" macro removes higher frequencies as you turn it down. These higher frequencies are great for adding energy as a song builds, but may need to be scooped out during mellower times.

Stereo Width: The "Stereo Width" macro will adjust the spread of the sound. Turning it all the way up will spread the sound out to fill the stereo field, while turning the control all the way down will bring the pad into a mono signal.

Key-Select Buttons:

The Key Select buttons are used to select the desired major key of the pad. Only one Key Select button can be active at any one time, preventing unwanted dissonance in a live setting. The pads are designed so that when the Drone is on, the key select buttons can be used to crossfade into the new key seamlessly.

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