Wildwood Lightning by Wildwood Soundworks

video uploads by Wildwood Soundworks


"Wildwood Lightning is a handmade digital sampler, sequencer and synthesizer designed and produced by Wildwood Soundworks in Penn Valley, California. It provides the following features:

Sampler - record your own samples or use standard WAVE files.

Sequencer - compose on up to 16 channels with channel mute and solo.

Synthesizer - produce polyphonic audio with a sample based synthesizer.

Touch Pads - play notes, select chord and drum patterns and strum with touch sensitive pads.

Display - view notes and channels or navigate menus to select from numerous features.

Multiple Views - create and update your songs using piano roll, song or step views.

Multiple Menus - discover features and create or edit your song with 14 menus.

Touch Display - softkeys organize functions into categories and actions.

Note Wheel - strum chords across octaves by moving finger around touch sensors.

MIDI Network - Create multiple connectionless networks to play and record across collections of devices.

MIDI Files - read and write to internal flash, or external USB flash drives and Micro SD cards.

USB MIDI In - connect a MIDI keyboard to the device to use it as a sequencer and synthesizer.

USB MIDI Out - connect the device to a computer to use it as a touch input device or sequencer.

USB Audio - Record and play USB UAC 1.0 audio streams (e.g. USB audio headset).

Playlists - create lists of songs or parts of songs to shuffle or play in sequence.

Profiles - organize settings into profiles in flash memory for easy setup of new songs.

Firmware Updates - install firmware updates over the internet for new features and bug fixes.

Browser Interface - view a large version of the device screen on your favorite browser.

Pattern Generator - play drum grooves and fills as well as chord arpeggios and strums.

Reverb Filter - simulate acoustic characteristics of different types of spaces.

Demo Songs - get started with over 65 Creative Commons CC0 licensed (Public Domain) MIDI files.

Metronome - configure the sound, volume and rate of the builtin metronome.

Articulation Menu - control the amplitude, pitch and timbre to produce more expressive sounds.

Sample Management - Set loop points, clip samples, assign to touch sensors.

Key Signature - Set the key of the song and forget about sharps and flats.

Tablature View - Displays chords and lyrics to make it easier to play your favorite songs.

For more information, visit https://wildwoodsoundworks.com"


Video Playlist:

1. Using the Chord Wheel - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 1 of 7

In this video, you'll see how to use Lightning's Chord Wheel View to play chords.

You select a chord type using the left wheel, and the chord root and notes in the chord using the right wheel.

Lightning automatically ascends and descends across octaves as you move across the right wheel sensors in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

You can use the Key Signature item on the Song menu to set the key of a song as it appears in sheet music. It is displayed at the top of the view.

By default, Lightning uses the C Major / A minor scale (the white keys on the piano).

Lightning features 14 built-in chord types. You can access the first 7 chord types by pressing a sensor on the left wheel:

Major (Maj)
Minor (min)
Dominant Seventh (7)
Minor Seventh (m7)
Major Seventh (Maj7)
Major Sixth (6)
Minor Sixth (m6)

You access the second set of 7 chord types by pressing two adjacent sensors on the left wheel:

Suspended Second (sus2)
Suspended Fourth (sus4)
Augmented
Diminished Seventh (dim7)
Blues (7/6)
Scale Based
Power (5)

The Chord Wheel View also displays the current chord type, root and note, as well as the semitone intervals in the chord.

Find more information on Wildwood Lightning at https://wildwoodsoundworks.com

2. Using the Note Wheel - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 2 of 7

In this video, you'll see how to use Lightning's Note Wheel View to play the notes in a scale.

The Note Wheel view consists of modifiers on the left wheel and notes on the right wheel.

Lightning defaults to the key of C Major / A minor (the white keys on a piano). You can select other keys using the Song menu.

Lightning automatically ascends and descends across octaves as you move across the right wheel sensors in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

The sensors on the left wheel let you select sharps and flats and octaves, as well as override default behavior.

3. Using the Step View - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 3 of 7

Lightning features two interfaces to its sequencer: a step-based interface and a real-time interface.

In this video, you'll see how to use the Step View and Lightning's step-based sequencer interface.

With the step-based interface, each note you play begins at a step boundary and plays for the duration of the step.

With the real-time interface, each note you play begins when you play it and lasts for as long as you play it.

The two interfaces are totally compatible and you can switch between them to achieve a variety of effects.

This video features the Step View and the step-based sequencer. There is another video that shows the Piano Roll View and the real-time sequencer.

In the Step View, each box represents a step, and the number in the box represents the number of notes assigned to that step.

If the step contains notes for more than one channel (instrument) the box will be divided into sections, with the color of each section representing the color of the channel.

As you play notes in the Step View, each note is added to the step and the cursor advances to the next step. If you want to add a rest (i.e. empty step), use the Right action on the View softkey category to move to the next step. If you want to add multiple notes per step, use the Left action go to a previous step and play another note.

You can have virtually any number of steps in a composition. When the current page is full, Lightning automatically advances to the next page. The footer tells you which page you're on.

You can control the number of steps that are displayed per page using the Steps per Measure item in the Song Menu.

After you've entered some steps you can select Play action from the Transport softkey category to play and loop your composition. You can also overdub new notes into steps as it's playing.

Use the Select action in the View softkey category to clear the notes in a step. A short press clears any notes for the current channel. A long press clears the notes for all channels.

4. Using the Piano Roll View - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 4 of 7

Lightning features two interfaces to its sequencer: a step-based interface and a real-time interface.

In this video, you'll see how to use the Piano Roll View and Lightning's real-time sequencer interface.

With the step-based interface, each note you play begins at a step boundary and plays for the duration of the step.

With the real-time interface, each note you play begins when you play it and lasts for as long as you play it.

The two interfaces are totally compatible and you can switch between them to achieve a variety of effects.

This video features the Piano Roll View and the real-time sequencer. There is another video that shows the Step View and the step-based sequencer.

In the Piano Roll View, you'll see the start time and duration of notes horizontally from left to right (i.e. on the x-axis) and pitch vertically from bottom to top (i.e. on the y-axis).

Each vertical line represents a measure and each horizontal line represents an octave.

You can use items in the Song Menu to select the measure length and set the time signature and tempo.

You can record, loop and overdub using the Piano Roll View. You can use the metronome items in the Song Menu to configure an optional metronome.

Note that the Piano Roll view was originally called the Note View in Express, but was renamed in Lightning to avoid confusion with the Note Wheel View.

5. Using the Tab View - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 5 of 7

In this video, you'll see how to use the Tab View to display and play Wildwood Tab files containing lyrics and chords.

Wildwood Tabs are simple text files that you have annotated with chords and other meta-information. They are also know as Lightning Tabs, Express Tabs, or Wildwood Tablature files.

When you open a song in Wildwood Tab format (e.g. with a .tab filename suffix), Lightning displays the song in the Tab View.

The Tab View shows the title, subtitle and lyrics for the song, along with a symbol that shows how to play each chord.

The symbol consists of two circles, with a line that indicates which of the sensors on the chord type (left) wheel and chord note (right) wheel to press to get the chord.

As you play each chord, Lightning advances to the next chord.

The Wildwood Tab file also lets you specify the key signature, channel, octave, program or instrument and chord voicing.

Here is an example of a demo Wildwood Tab file that is provided with Lightning:

{Title: House Of The Rising Sun - Traditional}
{Subtitle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hou...}
#
{Key: A minor}
{Channel: 4}
{Octave: 3}
{Instrument: Acoustic Guitar Steel}
{Voicing: Guitar-1}
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F} {Am} {E} {Am} {E}There
#
{Am}is a {C}house in {D}New {F}Orleans they
{Am}call the {C}Rising {E}Sun. And it's
{Am}been the {C}ruin of {D}many a poor {F}boy, and
{Am}God I {E}know I'm {Am}one.
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F}My
#
{Am}mother {C}was a {D}tailor, {F}she
{Am}sewed my {C}new blue {E}jeans. My
{Am}father {C}was a {D}gamblin' {F}man
{Am}down in {E}New Or{Am}leans.
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F}Now the
#
{Am}only {C}thing a {D}gambler {F}needs is a
{Am}suitcase {C}and a {E}trunk. And the
{Am}only {C}time he {D}is satis{F}fied is
{Am}when he's {E}on a {Am}drunk.
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F}Oh mother
#
{Am}tell {C}your {D}children{F} not to
{Am}do {C}what I {E}have done. And spend
{Am}your life {C}in sin {D}and mis{F}ery in the
{Am}House {E}of the {Am}Rising Sun.
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F}Well I got
#
{Am}one {C}foot on {D}the {F}platform
{Am}The other {C}one on {E}the train. I'm going
{Am}back {C}to {D}New {F}Orleans
{Am}to wear that {E}ball and {Am}chain.
#
{Am} {C} {D} {F}There
#
{Am}is a {C}house in {D}New {F}Orleans they
{Am}call the {C}Rising {E}Sun, and it's
{Am}been the {C}ruin of {D}many a poor {F}boy and
{Am}God I {E}know I'm {Am}one.

6. Using the Sample View - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 6 of 7

Lightning features two synthesizer engines: a sample-based synth and an FM synth. In this video, you'll see how to use the Sample View to record and assign samples for the Lightning sample-based synth. The sample-based synth comes with a sample library of 128 instrument sounds and 56 drum or percussion sounds. For the sample-based synth you can record your own samples or provide them as .wave files. To record your own samples, you'll need a USB UAC1.0 compliant audio device with input capability (e.g. a USB headset or USB microphone). You can define your own banks for sample-based sounds or reuse the default instrument bank. In this video, we reuse the default bank to keep things simple, but in a studio setting, you would most likely want to create your own banks. You can assign any number of samples to any number of notes. If a note doesn't have a sample associated with it, Lightning will interpolate from the nearest assigned sample. Once you've created a set of samples you like, you can save them as a Sample Group (.grp) file. You can also define a Sample Group to load at startup (instead of the default sounds) and save it as a profile. This lets you manage and switch between virtually any number of sample banks.

7. Using the Song View - Wildwood Lightning Essentials - 7 of 7

In this video, you'll see how to use Lightning's Song View to see the channels and notes in a song at a glance.

The Song View contains one row for each of the 16 channels. The label on the left contains the instrument that is currently assigned to the channel.

To the right of that is a timeline of the notes in that channel across the duration of the song.

When you press play, a cursor advances from left to right, showing where you are in the song.

This lets you quickly determine which channels / instruments are playing at a given point in time.

This can be useful for other channel operations available through the Channel menu, including mute, solo, etc.

8. Lightning v2 Touch Display

This video shows you how to use the touch display on Lightning version 2:

1. Header, Content and Footer
2. Softkey Categories and Actions
3. Views, Menus and Menu Items
4. Navigating the File System and Opening a Song File
5. Using the Transport Softkeys to Play a Song
6. Closing the Softkeys