EVOLVE YOUR DRUMS

Stacker User Guide

release version 1 - JUNE 2016
support, updates and videos www.samplemagic.com
concept and sounds Marc Adamo
DSP and code Stephen Blinkhorn
windows porting Mark Collins
GUI TSV
documentation Marc Adamo and David Felton
testing Sample Magic and our fantastic Beta Team
 Stacker / Disclaimer Stacker / System requirements

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment System requirements
on the part of Sample Magic Ltd. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement
and may not be copied to other media except as specifically detailed in the License Agreement. No part of Windows
this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without
the prior written consent of Sample Magic. Windows Vista or higher (tested up to Windows 10)
SSE2-enabled processor (Pentium 4 or later)
2012-2016, Sample Magic Ltd. All rights reserved. Minimum 2GB RAM.
Any VST / Audio Unit (32/64-bit) / AAX-compatible host software.
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but in making this a
better product. Mac OS X

Mac OS X 10.7 or higher (tested up to 10.10 El Capitan)

Intel processor Mac
Minimum 2GB RAM.
Any VST / Audio Unit (32/64-bit) / AAX-compatible host software.

Audio files supported

WAV and AIFF, 16- and 24-bit

 Stacker / Update log Stacker / Mac install

Installing Stacker on a Mac

Updates 5 - Choose a location for the plugin
formats. The preset library will be installed
1 - Double-click on the file Stacker Beta 16 MAC install.
VERSION 1 JUNE 2016 to the default location which should not
dmg. This unpacks the zip into the installer file.
ALL NEW BABY! be modified at this time otherwise presets
will not work. This can take a few minutes.
NOTE: Presets are stored in: Hard Drive
FAQs 2 - Double-click on the file Sample
> Library > Application Support > Sample
magic - stacker.pkg. This starts the
Magic > Stacker
The latest Stacker FAQs are in the SM Help Centre at: installer which will guide you through
www.samplemagic.com the process. Click continue to start the
6 - The software is now installed. Click
install then select the destination drive.
Close to finish.
Quick-start videos
The SM YouTube channel features a range of quick-start videos for
getting more from Stacker.
3 - The standard install will install all
plugin formats. To customise the install
Stacker Video Guide series on YouTube
select the formats you wish to install and
NOTE: If you are getting security issues
click Continue.
preventingyoufrominstalling,gotoSystem
Preferences > Security & Privacy (General)
and ensure the radio button Allow apps
downloaded from: Mac App Store and
identified developers is highlighted.
4 - If you wish to install to a custom
directory click Change Install Location.
 Stacker / PC install Stacker / Authorising Stacker

Installing Stacker on a PC 4 Choose an install location for

your VST plugins and click Install
to continue. If you are only installing
Downloading Stacker
1 - Double-click the Zip file to unpack.
AAX versions, this will automatically be
Double-click the .exe file to launch the After purchasing Stacker, you can download it from the MY PLUGINS
placed in the default AVID folder.
installer. area of your Sample Magic account. (Just login at www.samplemagic.
com, click on MY ACCOUNT and then MY PLUGINS.)

2 The setup wizard will guide you Authorising Stacker

through installation. Click Next to
5 - The plugins and library will now be
continue.
installed. This can take a few minutes.
The preset library will be installed to the
default location which should not be
modified at this time otherwise presets
will not work.
The plugin needs to be authorised the first time it is launched.
You will be asked for the email address associated with your Sample
Magic account and the unique eight digit serial number generated in
your MY PLUGINS download area. Enter these details into the pop-up
panel that opens during loading of your DAW.

NOTE: Presets are stored in: Hard Drive (If upgrading from V1 you still need to authorise using a new serial
> Program Data Sample Magic > Stacker number found in your MY PLUGINS area.)
3 Select a format to install: VST and/
or AAX. by default it will install both
Click finish to close the setup window.
32bit and 64bit versions. click on the +
sign next to the format (VST or AAX)
and it will show the individual versions to
select from.

Note: If you cannot copy/paste the serial number into the box then
please type it in manually.
 Stacker / Welcome Stacker / Presets

Welcome to Stacker, the first and last word in Presets: Great drums in Loading a preset
drum sound design. seconds 1

To load a preset, click on Presets (6).

Stacker is the ultimate drum layering plugin, which uses syn- To audition the current sound, click on
thesis and sampling across multiple layers to create anything the Scope in the top right corner (1). Then click a preset to load (7). At all
from fully personalised cutting-edge drums through fine- times the drop-down shows you files in 6

ly-honed vintage sounds to epic Hollywood-style percussion. The preset name is shown in the display the current folder. So if youve got a fat 4 5 2
3
below the Stacker logo (2). snare loaded, other shown presets are
other fat snares.
But its much more than a simple drum layering plugin it
can also be used to create lush chords, complex rhythmic Click the Presets pull-down Menu (3) 10 9
to show options such as Open, Save, Click on a folder to show its contents
tones and unique spot FX. (8).
Save As and Reset.
The drum sound designers plugin of choice, Stacker boasts The last option in the pull-down shows To go back up a level click the Up icon
three samplers, a synth later, a suite of insert FX, a modula- the presets in the current library folder. (9). 8
tion matrix plus a host of innovative tools such as Scatter for
intelligent time displacement. Use the previous / next arrows (4) to Only Stacker presets and other folders
load different presets from that folder. are shown in the menu.
Smart global editing, freeform envelopes, dedicated pump & So enjoy and, as ever, let us know how youre getting on 7

gate and macro assignments for instant tweaks add up to the To select a random preset from the To quickly jump back to the library
with it.
audio worlds most powerful layering tool. folder, click the lighting bolt (5). from anywhere, click the colourful
Stacks icon (10).
The Sample Magic Team
At the same time, its simple architecture means you can dive
in and get the perfect drum sound for the most demanding
track in minutes.
 Stacker / Mixer Stacker / Channel Presets

Channel presets As with the main Presets Menu,

1 1 1 2 3 4 last in line is the folder of the
Channel presets work in the same currently loaded sample for quick
way as full preets, only this time access to other sounds (4). 6 6
5 1
they only load audio files for the 2
chosen channel. Note that loading Use the left and right arrows to 3
an audio file, does not load any load samples from the same folder
5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 7 7
other parameters. (5). Use the lighting bolt to load a
random audio file from that folder.
4
8 Click a down arrow (1) to open
the Channel presets drop-down The blue synth channel features
menu. the same preset toolbar, but
instead of samples it loads special
You can load a sample from the presets for the synth layer.
system browser (2). You can use the same browse and
The top of Stacker features a 6 channel mixer. The FX channels have two essential FX parameter nobs for quick load options, but it also offers save
editing (7). You can reset and remove the options for you to make your own
The red, orange and green channels (1) are for the 3 sample layers. current sample to start from a synth presets.
The blue channel (2) is the synth. The delay nobs control time and feedback, while the impulse offers blank state (3).
pump rate and depth (more on those later). The delay and reverb channels have
The last two channels are the FX returns; purple for delay (3) and Or you can reset the layer the same controls (6) for loading
pink for impulse response (4). Below the knobs are the channel preset menus (8). parameters of a loaded sound to pre-made delays and impulses.
their default values (3).
Each channels has controls for volume, mute and solo.

The sample and synth channels have two colour-coded nobs for the
delay (5) and impulse send (6) FX.
 Stacker / Global controls Stacker / Global controls

5
Global tab

To quickly access global controls on a single 1 2

panel, click the GLOBAL tab (1). 2 4

The central white panel shows high and low cut

4
filters for each layer (2), along with resonance
dials for each (3). 3

5
You can change the filter type and slope from
the filter drop-down (4). 6
3

Activate / bypass filters by clicking on their
power button (5) or anywhere on the FILTERS
text. Using faders / knobs automatically turns
on the filter units this is same for almost all
parameters in Stacker.
In the dark panel beneath the tabs you can
access essential layer parameters for each of
the sampler and synth layers, including:
amp length (6) the Amp envelope must be
active on this layer for this to work
layer tuning (7),
layer stereo width (8).
6
7
Layer parameters
8 any time.
You can tweak global layer paramaters
individually in the coloured boxes (1)
or using a single global adjustment by
moving the fader on the right (2).
If you only want to change the length of
three of the four channels, simply click
on the coloured dot that you want to
bypass (3) (the dot will become darker),
then make your fader movement.
You can deselect any or all of them at
MIDI velocity response and Keytracking
can be found on the left of the panel (4).
Click on the coloured circles to toggle
these on or off for each layer.
need most of the time, you can switch to
The final two options, bottom left, are
Trigger Mode (5) and Polyphony (6).
Trigger mode allows you to can choose
between Env (envelope) and Gate.
Envelope triggers the sound in full, like
a one-shot. Gate mode only holds the
sound for the duration of the key press.
Stacker defaults to Mono (monophonic).
While MONO (phonic) may be all you
POLY (phonic) mode, which provides up
to 16 notes of polyphony useful if you
want big reverb tails to ring out rather
being cut off as the next drum sound hits.
 Stacker / Sample layer
The sample layer
Clicking on a layer name opens it for editing
in the main panel. Click the name again to
toggle between the layer parameters and
the layer insert FX.
Loading a sample
There are several ways to load a sample,
designed for different workflows:
The easiest is to drag and drop a sample
(16 or 24-bit Wav or AIFF) onto the
waveform display directly from the finder or
explorer.
You can also drag a sample onto the text
strip of any mixer channel.
Click Load Sample from the channel
drop-down menu.
Editing samples
To trim a sound to the section you want,
1 2
9
4 7
3 8
simply move the start (S, 1) and end
markers (E, 2).
Click Loop (3) to loop a region. By default
repeats are set to Infinite. To reduce that
click and drag upwards on INF (4) to set
a number between 1 and 100 loops. After
completing the set number of loops the
wave continues to the end marker.
Reverse a sound by clicking Reverse (5).
Automatically Normalise the volume of files semitone intervals.
for volume consistency (6).
9
3 7
10
8 6 5
The final buttons beneath the waveform
allow you to turn on key tracking (7) and
MIDI velocity sensitivity (8) two key
controls for adding expression.
The dials to the right of the waveform
control panning (9), tuning and fine-tuning
(10) of the sound layer.
NOTE: For both synth and sampler
layers, the root key is C3. Key-tracking
works up and down from C3 at one
Stacker / Sample layer
Channel matrix
Theres plenty of ways to manipulate the
stereo image of each sound. 4
1
The CHANNELS Matrix on the left of the
waveform is used to correct stereo and phase 5
issues. You can easily flip channels (1), switch
2
a stereo sound to mono (2) or correct phase
issues (3) that might arise when stacking 6
similar sounds just try the various options
9
and listen out for changes to the clarity and
3
definition of the sound.
The Matrix can also be used to select specific
channels of a stereo sound (2). If you only
want the left side of a layered clap, for
example, just click Mono Left (L).
keep the low end grounded in mono use the Layer filters
MONO cutoff filter (5) to set the frequency
Stereo image
beneath which the signal will be kept in mono Stacker provides a selection of high and low
useful for retaining the low-end integrity of cut filters (7) to carve out the perfect spot in
For more creative stereo effects, move to the
a stereo kick for example. the spectrum for each layer. You can change
right of the waveform.
the slope of the filter by clicking the filter box
A second widening option is the SAMPLE
Enhance the stereo image using the Mid (8). Where the filter allows it, resonance can
DELAY (6), which shifts the left and right be set using the REZ dials (9) below.
/ Side WIDTH slider (4). If you need to
signals apart by delaying one of the channels.
 Stacker / Sample layer
Envelopes
The lower panel houses the AMP (1) and
PITCH (2) envelopes, each of which features
an eight stage fully-editable envelope with
curve control.
Drag to edit a point. Drag up / down between
the points to edit the curve.
Double-click an empty space to create a new
point and double-click a point to delete it.
(The first and last points cannot be deleted.)
Edit the length of a sample by dragging TIME
(3) between 50 milliseconds and 10 seconds.
Zoom and Warp
Zoom in by dragging ZOOM (4) up or down,
or by dragging the scroll bar, trackpad or
scroll wheel.
Click the zoom icon (5) to reset it.
7
3
5 12
4
6
WARP (6) allows you to reshape the
envelope by skewing time. This allows
you to create instant variations to the
transients and attack portion of the
sound and sculpt it with greater detail,
by increasing the time ratio at the all-
important opening attack transients.
Pitch envelope
Open the Pitch Envelope by clicking the
PITCH tab (2).
1 2
The pitch envelope has the same
functionality as the Amp envelope, its
scale set to semitones.
Load, browse and save favourite envelope
shapes using the Envelope drop-down
menu (7) in the same way as in the Sample
and Synth menus.
Stacker / Synth layer
11
1
12
2 3
4 8
The blue synth layer combines an analogue-
style oscillator with a noise generator to
produce all kinds of drum sounds, including
kicks, snares, hi-hats and percussion. Its even
possible to program bass and leads sounds and
play them melodically.
The synth offers a single oscillator (1)
generating a variable waveform featuring
triangle, sine and square wave shapes.
The DRIVE circuit (2) adds weight and
punch to percussive sounds, while the CLICK
11
5 6
7
generator (3) adds an 808-style transient
impulse to the start of a sound.
TUNE the synth oscillator (4) to the track
then sculpt it using the amp and pitch
envelopes (see previous page). The root key
is C3. Key-tracking works up and down
from C3 at one semitone intervals.
Noise
The NOISE circuit offers colour selection
(5), a multi-mode filter (6) with resonance
10
9
(7) and a stereo width control (8). By default,
the noise is routed through its own 8-stage
envelope (9). To shape the noise oscillator
using the main synth amp envelope instead,
simply power off the Noise Env (10).
Both SYNTH OSC and NOISE are mixed
together and routed through the high and
low cut FILTERS (10) and then the insert FX
(more on those overleaf). The Synth oscillator
and Noise generator can be active or bypassed
(11), and balanced using individual sliders for
volume (12).
 Stacker / Insert FX
2
5 6
3 4
Each of the four sound generation layers
has its own suite of insert FX.
To access the FX, click on the FX tab (1) or
toggle-click on the layer name.
By default, insert FX are bypassed. To add
an effect, simply turn a knob and it will
automatically activate the effect.
Click anywhere on each insert FX name to
toggle it on and off.
1
Digitize
Add all kinds of lo-fI effects to sounds with
bit rate (2) and sample RATE reduction
(3) to simulate old school digital drum
machines.
You might want to reproduce the 10-bit
chip of the MPC-60.
Use the MIX control to dial in just the right
amount of grunge.
Clip filter
Combines a multi-mode filter and a
distortion unit. You can use either or both,
and change the order of the distortion by
clicking on the Pre / Post button (4).
The multi-mode filter includes Low-Pass,
Band-Pass and Hi-Pass types (5) with
resonance while the DRIVE offers a range
of models (6), from tube overdrive through
soft clipping to complex wavefolding.
Stacker / Insert FX
Zero flanger
The Zero Flanger includes positive and 9 10
2 5
negative feedback styles, plus thru-zero
flanging for classic jet sounds (1). 14 15
Stacker offers all the usual parameters 1 7 8 12
6 11
such as DELAY (2), FEEDBACK (3) and
sweep DEPTH (4). The sweep RATE (5) 4
3
is controlled by the LFO, which offers six
13
shapes including Sample & Hold (6). The
rate can by either manual or BPM synced,
while the LFO allows for phase offset up to
360 degrees (7).
Mod shift of gain for boosting or cutting. The variable
Q control (14) shapes the EQ allowing for
Highlighting TRIG (8) forces the flanger sharper of broader bandwidths.
Choose from either a ring modulator (RM),
to re-trigger the LFO from the same start
or a frequency shifter (FS) (10) to add extra
point whenever the sound is retriggered for
consistent results every time.
harmonics to the sound. You can set the Filters
frequency of the modulator in Hz (11) or as a
MIDI note (12) if you prefer tuning it to the High and low-cut filters round out the
A quick word on the Sync, Trip and Dot
key of your track. insert FX suite (15). Note that these are
options which appear alongside Rate dials
duplicate controls for the filters found on
in Stacker (9). Sync allows you to toggle
between BPM sync values and ms. Clicking EQ the channel edit page, (and not a second set
of filters). They are shown on the FX page
on triplet and/or dot adds triplet and dotted
The two-band EQ offers low-shelf, high for convenience, so you dont have to keep
intervals onto the Rate dial useful for
shelf and peak models (13), with up to 12dB toggling pages while you shape your sound.
getting the right delay value in seconds.
 Stacker / Mod Matrix Stacker / Mod Matrix & Macros

1 1 1 1

The Mod Matrix, in the colourful bottom right corner of

Stacker, provides 11 sources and over 90 targets for adding 5
dynamic motion and expression to your sounds.
1 2 3 4 5
Sources include the Mod envelopes, Macro controls, plus MIDI
velocity, Pitch Bend and Kaoss, which creates a random value 2
each time a note is triggered.
6
3
Click on the SOURCE (1) or TARGET (2) to browse the
choices. To make selection easier, the targets are grouped
into sub-menus for their respective layer, as are the delay and 4
impulse FX.

When the Target is set, its colour changes to match the layer.

DEPTH (3) can be set in a positive or negative direction,

Mod envelopes 1-4
and polarity (4) can be set to UNI or BI-polar for maximum
To edit any of the four modulation sources,
flexibility.
click on its tab (1). Like the amp and pitch
envelopes, each mod envelope has eight
If you need to quickly bypass a Modulation altogether, just use
stages that can be edited in the same way.
the ON/OFF button (5).
You can program up to nine different mods at any one time.
The Mod env is re-triggered with each new
sound. Click LOOP (2) to turn it into an
LFO. RATE (3) can be adjusted between
four bars and 1/128th of a beat. Use the Grid parameters though a specific, pre-defined
to help draw rhythmic shapes. GRID (4)
can be set between 2 and 16 divisions.
Load, save and browse more Mod shapes
using the Mod menu (5) in the same way
as you would the sample and synth layer
menus.
Macros
Use the Macros (6) to control one or more
range. Macros are ideal for adding variation
to the sound without risk of losing the
character of the sound altogether.
Use the Mod Matrix (see previous page)
to program a Macro. The same Macro can
control multiple parameters across different
layers if you wish.
To rename a Macro, right click on the centre
of its knob and start typing. Each preset can
use up to four Macro controls, which are
stored with the preset.
 Stacker / Send FX: Delay
6 2
5 7 9 11
1 4 8
3 3
Delay
The delay has two distinct models, tape
style ECHO (1) and digital REPEATS (2).
ECHO features FEEDBACK (3) and a low
pass filter (4). REPEATS offers a SHAPE
control to produce swells and fades.
TIME (5) can be free or synced to BPM.
Sync, Triplet and Dotted (6) divisions can
be selected on or off for quick setting and
to enhance live performance tweaking.
10
(If youre not hearing any delay effect,
check that the send dial for one of the
sound generation channels is turned up.)
The WIDTH (7) control seamlessly morphs
the stereo image into a ping-pong pattern
while subtle or not so subtle pitch and
time modulation can be added to the delays
using the DEPTH (8) and RATE (9) dials.
Next in line is the powerful Pump envelope
(10), EQ (11) and filters (12). More on
PUMP overleaf...
12
Loading and saving FX
Delay and Impulse
FX are saved with
a Stacker preset,
but they can also be
saved and recalled
as individual presets.
Use the top Impulse
or Delay menus to
open, save, reset
and browse.
Stacker / Send FX: Impulse
1
2
4
Impulse
The impulse effect uses Impulse Response
files (IRs) to add ambience of any kind to a
sound, from classic room and hall reverbs to
any number of special effect textures.
Browse the library (1) or import any of the
thousands of freely available IR files found
on the Internet.
The impulse response can be edited in a
similar way as sample layers. Move the Start
and end markers (2) to define the range,
8
7
5
6
pitch the IR up or down using the octave
tuner (3) and reduce boom and mud using
the high pass filter (4).
Pump
The pump envelope takes the impulse
response or delay and imprints its own shape
onto the effect so that every nuance of your
sound fits the groove of your track.
The eight-stage envelope is triggered at the
start of the sound. Adjust its contribution
using AMP (5) and the HIGH and LOW
filters (6) then click and drag to create and
edit the envelope shape and curves as you
would any other Stacker envelope.
Set the RATE (7) and choose between 1
shot triggering or LOOP mode (8) to cycle
PUMP like an LFO.
Pump can produce classic pumping
sidechain reverb, 80s-style gated reverbs,
stuttering beat repeats and dozens of other
FX that add colour, motion and vibe to drum
sounds.
 Stacker / Scatter
Scatter
Scatter is one of Stackers secret weapons.
The Scatter editor, accessed via the
SCATTER tab (1), enables you to stagger
the start of each sample and synth layer so
that they trigger a set time after the MIDI
note on.
This intelligent time displacement is
indispensible for creating big, wide clap
ensembles, for solidifying a stacked kick
sound or for adding a lead-in whoosh sound
before a thundering boom effect.
To use Scatter, first choose between TIME
(2) in milliseconds or BPM sync (3).
Next, drag the layer blocks (4) left and
right to offset the start time of each. The
RANGE (5) time can be increased up to
1000 milliseconds or 4 BEATS (5) in BPM
sync mode.
As with the envelope editors, you can
add more GRID lines (6) to help a sound
1
2 3
4
5 expected pathway.
6 Click RELINK to manually find the missing sample. This
7 8
exactly fit your groove; turn on SNAP (7) to
keep tweaks synced to the grid.
If you need to start again, simply double-
click a block to reset it to zero ms delay or
click RESET (8) to clear all layers.
Scatter not only makes it easy to change
layer timing, it also allows you to create one-
finger grooves and FX sequences locked to
the BPM.
Stacker / Loading samples with missing presets
If a preset cannot find an audio file, it opens the Missing
samples window.
The missing samples are shown in red, along with the
opens explorer (or finder) and you can navigate to find
the missing sample, or a substitute file. Once found, the
red text turns green, indicating that it has loaded the
sample.
Once you have located all missing samples, click
FINISH.
If you want to skip any missing files, you can also click
FINISH earlier.
Alternatively you can get stacker to automatically
search an entire folder / sub folder for all missing
samples in a preset by clicking SEARCH FOLDER.