THE FINISHING RIG, HANDS-ON

Power, hookup, and the first update

The One is a standalone computer with pads. Wire it once, update it once, and it stays out of your way.

1. Connect the included power adapter (rear 1), flip the power switch (rear 3), and set MASTER VOL to a sane level.
2. On first boot you get a welcome screen — tap Next. If it offers an internet check for the latest software, take it: tap Let’s Go. The guide's standing advice is to stay current.
3. You'll see a list of demo projects. They're a factory tour — or tap New Project at the bottom to start clean (Step 3 lives there).
4. To check where you stand later: MENU → Preferences → Info shows the firmware. Updates come from akaipro.com — the rear Ethernet Link port or a USB/SD card carrying the update file gets you there.

The MPC 3 mental model: Sequences → Tracks

One idea runs this whole machine. Get it and every mode below is just a different window on the same thing.

1. A Project is the whole session: your sequences, tracks, samples, and song.
2. A Sequence is one section of music — a loop, a verse, a hook. Each sequence is made up of tracks, and a project can hold up to 128 tracks.
3. A Track is a container. This is the MPC 3 change: tracks and programs are unified into a single track container. The track's type decides what it sounds like — Drum (samples on pads), Keygroup (a sample played chromatically), Plugin (a built-in instrument), Audio (recorded audio), MIDI (external gear), or CV.
4. Main Mode is where you live: select tracks, see their notes/audio, arm recording. MAIN (or Shift+MAIN for Grid View) always brings you home.
5. The Menu — press MENU — is the map of every other mode. The interactive mode map below decodes all of it.

The Browser: every sound you own, one screen

Internal drive, expansions, your SD card, your USB stick — the Browser is the single door to all of it. Press BROWSE or Menu → Browser.

Two ways to look at the same library

1. Places (left column): browse by storage — Internal, MPC Documents, and any SD card or USB drive you plug in. This is where your library lives.
2. Content: browse by type — Drums, Instruments, Samples, Demos, My Files — no matter where the file sits. Expansions you install show up here as their own collections.
3. Search: tap the Search bar and type a word — the guide's own example searches “Vocal” and gets every tagged vocal sample. Your filenames are your tags: name things like you'd search for them.
4. Audition: tap the ► Play icon to preview. Tap Audition at the bottom to set preview volume and auto-audition as you scroll.
5. Load to Pool drops a sample into the project's sample pool without assigning it. Load with a pad selected in a drum track puts it straight on that pad.

First kit, first recorded sequence

A New Project on the One already hands you a drum track with samples on Pad Bank A, Q-Links set to shape it, and AIR Reverb + AIR Delay waiting on Returns 1 and 2. All you owe it is a pattern.

1. From the welcome screen (or Menu → New Project), start a New Project. Select the drum track and hit every pad — that's your first kit.
2. More pads: PAD BANK buttons give you banks A–D; hold SHIFT for E–H (or double-press a bank button). FULL LEVEL makes every hit land at velocity 127 while you sketch.
3. Make sure ● SEQ REC ARM at the bottom of the screen is enabled, then press REC on the hardware to arm the arrangement.
4. Tap the Arrangement header, press PLAY, and take the one-bar metronome count-in. Play a simple hi-hat pattern — one sound at a time is the guide's advice and it's right.
5. The default sequence is two bars. After two bars it flips into Overdub and keeps looping — don't stop. Add the kick, then the snare, pass by pass.
6. Press STOP when the loop stands up.

Drum tracks + pad editing in Track Edit

A drum track is a list of samples plus every setting for each one — pad assignments, tuning, loop points, effects. PROG EDIT (the One's Track Edit button) is where a stock kit becomes your kit. Select a pad and the screen becomes that pad.

1. Enter Track Edit: Menu → Track Edit, press PROG EDIT, or double-tap the sample area in Main Mode's Track view.
2. Press a pad to edit it. On the Global tab: drag the Level and Pan knobs (double-tap a knob for the big fine-adjust version), spread bright sounds a little in the stereo field, and balance the kit by ear.
3. Tune a sound: Samples tab → Semi and Fine next to the sample name. A kick tuned to the track is a kick that knocks instead of fights.
4. Set how the pad behaves: Sample Play — One Shot (fires fully) vs Note On (plays while held). Set Mute Group so your open hat and closed hat share a group number and choke each other.
5. Stack sounds with layers: the Samples tab holds multiple samples per pad; Layer Play = Velocity plays different layers at different hit strengths, Cycle rotates them.
6. Per-pad effects: Effects tab → double-tap a slot, double-tap an effect to load it (the guide's example: Reverb Medium on the snare), pencil icon edits it, trash empties it, On/Off bypasses it.
7. Move sounds around with hardware: COPY / DELETE — select the From Pad field, hit the source pad, select the To Pad graphic, hit the destination (multiple destinations, even other banks), then tap Do It. Shift+Copy/Delete deletes.

Keygroups + plugins: samples that play like instruments

A keygroup track takes one sample and spreads it across the pads chromatically — the 808-as-bass move. A plugin track skips the sample entirely and loads one of the built-in instruments.

The 808 trick (straight from the guide's tutorial)

1. The default kit's Pad 5 is an 808. Select the drum track, press PAD 5, then double-tap the sample area in Main Mode's Track view to land in Track Edit.
2. Tap the keyboard+ icon at the top of the screen — that one tap converts the sample into a Keygroup Track, added at the end of your track list.
3. Press MAIN, select the new keygroup track. The pads are now in Pad Perform mode — they play the 808 melodically.
4. ● SEQ REC ARM on, REC, PLAY — record your bass line on the pads.

Add a plugin track

1. In Main Mode, tap + New Track (bottom-left) and choose Plugin.
2. Pick the instrument in the Plugin field and a sound in the Preset field.
3. Arm it and record the same way. Browse the whole instrument family any time in Sounds mode from the Menu.

Sample into the One: the Sampler

Records, synths, your phone, the Sample itself — anything that makes noise becomes raw material here. Press SAMPLER or Menu → Sampler.

1. Connect your source to the rear inputs. Set the input menu (top-left) to Input 1,2.
2. Play the source and turn the rear-panel REC VOL knob until the meter is healthy but never constantly peaking — peaking is distortion baked in forever.
3. Drag the threshold slider low (the guide suggests about −50 dB) so recording starts the instant the sound does.
4. Tap Arm. Play your source — recording starts when the level crosses the threshold. Or tap the round Record button to start manually.
5. Tap the round Stop button. The Keep or Discard Sample window is the moment of truth.
6. In that window: name it in the Name field, pick the Track, set Assign To Pad by tapping the field and hitting the pad you want, set the Root Note if it's melodic — then Keep. (Play previews it, Edit jumps straight to Sample Edit, Discard means it never happened.)

Sample Edit: trim it tight, then process it

Raw captures become usable sounds here. Press SAMPLE EDIT or Menu → Sample Edit, and pick your sample in the Sample field at the top.

1. Make sure the Trim/Chop tab (bottom-left) is on Trim.
2. Drag the S marker to where the sound truly starts. Drag the E marker to where it ends. Fine work: the first column of Q-Link knobs (in Screen Q-Link mode) adjusts the start point at different resolutions; the second column does the end.
3. Exact numbers: double-tap the Start or End field and type them on the numeric keypad.
4. Audition with PAD 10 — it plays the sample from start point to end point, exactly as trimmed.
5. Process it: tap Process at the bottom, choose a function with the data dial — the guide's example is Pitch Shift, which transposes without changing length — set the amount on the big knob, tap Do It.

Chop a loop into a new drum track

The MPC religion, MPC 3 edition: one drum loop in, a playable kit of slices out — with the notes written for you if you want them. The loop does not need to match your tempo first.

1. Load a drum loop from the Browser — onto a drum track pad with Load, or into the pool with Load to Pool.
2. Open Sample Edit, select the loop in the Sample field, and switch the Trim/Chop tab to Chop.
3. Tap Threshold, then the Threshold field, and set it with the data dial or –/+ buttons. Lower threshold = more slices. Aim for a slice marker on every transient peak — no hit without a marker.
4. Play the pads to audition slices (Pad A01 = Slice 1, and so on up the pads).
5. Convert it: hold SHIFT and tap Convert at the bottom. Set Convert To = New Drum Track with New Samples.
6. Check Crop Samples (each slice becomes its own real sample) and Create Events (the One writes the notes that replay the loop in order), set the Bars the loop should occupy, and tap Do It.
7. Press PLAY — the loop now plays back at your song tempo, slice by slice.

Grid, Step Sequencer + Timing Correct

Three editors for three moods: the Grid for surgery, the Step Sequencer for writing with pads, and TC for bending time itself.

Grid View (Shift + MAIN, or Menu → Grid View)

1. Zoom with two fingers (tap the magnifying glass first); the grid-and-magnifier icon snaps the view to one pad bank and two bars.
2. Pencil icon = tap the grid to enter notes. Eraser icon = tap notes to delete them. Select box = tap to select; pressing a pad selects all of that pad's notes.
3. Move selected notes with Nudge + data dial (snaps to the TC value), or hold Don’t Snap to move freely, 4 ticks at a time. Edit Start/Edit End resize; Transpose repitches.
4. Velocity lane: tap the ∧ arrow (lower-right) to show it, select notes, tap Automation, and drag or dial each hit's strength.

Step Sequencer (STEP SEQ button, or Menu → Step Sequencer)

1. Pick your pad with the Pad –/+ buttons and your bar with the Bar –/+ buttons. Set the length in the Bars field (the Track Length selector can keep tracks at different lengths under one sequence).
2. Press PLAY — the running step glows green. Each pad is a step: press an unlit pad to enter a note, press a lit pad to delete it.
3. Step colors follow velocity. Shift + Clear Bar wipes the whole bar for that pad.

Timing Correct (TC button)

1. The TC window sets the quantize value your recording, nudging, and step entry snap to — note value, Strength (how hard it pulls), and Swing (how late the off-beats lean).
2. Record loose, then decide: TC is a lens you can change, not a commitment you made while playing.

Arrange mode: the linear timeline

Sequences are loops; Arrange Mode is the DAW-style timeline where a loop becomes a structure. Menu → Arrange. Everything you recorded in Main Mode is here, laid out in time.

Stretch a 2-bar loop into a section (the guide's walk-through)

1. Tap the pencil Edit button at the top of the Arrange screen → Double length. Your sequence doubles with all events (2 bars → 4). Do it again for 8.
2. Pencil again → Insert Bars: set # of Bars = 2, Before Bar = 5, tap Do It. Now there's a two-bar hole in the middle of your section.
3. Fill it by copying: select the drum track, expand the Arrangement Track Editor (the ∧ at the bottom — it's the full Grid View, inside Arrange), use selection mode to drag over the drum notes before the hole, then hold SHIFT and tap Duplicate. Nudge the copies onto the downbeat.
4. Or fill it live: tap Loop, drag the loop region over the two empty bars, select your track, press PLAY and record a new melody into just that section — at the loop end it rolls into Overdub, so keep layering.

Mutes: arrange by subtraction

1. TRACK MUTE (Shift + TRACK MUTE = Pad Mute): press PLAY and tap pads to mute/unmute tracks or pads live — muted pads light red.
2. Set Time Division (e.g., 1 Bar) and your mutes land exactly on the next bar line — musical combinations, auditioned in time. This is the preliminary stage of building a song: find the combinations that work, then make them sequences.

Mixer, insert FX, sends — and performing with XYFX

Two mixers, three effect depths, one performance surface. TRACK MIX opens the Channel Mixer; Shift + TRACK MIX opens the Pad Mixer.

The three depths of effects

1. Per pad: Track Edit → Effects tab (Step 4) — a reverb that only exists on your snare.
2. Per track: in Main Mode or the Channel Mixer, double-tap an empty insert slot, double-tap the effect to load it, pencil to edit, trash to clear, On/Off to bypass.
3. Sends/Returns: shared effects on return channels that any track can send to. Your New Project already has AIR Reverb on Return 1 and AIR Delay on Return 2 — raise a track's Send 1 and it swims; that's cheaper and glues better than a reverb per track.

Record an XYFX performance as automation

1. Menu → XYFX. Set the XYFX Location field to Track and tap Insert XYFX when prompted.
2. Tap Setup, double-tap the Preset field, and pick an effect. Set Attack, Release, and Wet/Dry — Attack is how fast the effect grabs when you touch the pad, Release is how it lets go.
3. Tap the automation button until it shows red Write (W).
4. Press PLAY START and ride the pad with one finger while it records. Your X and Y movements are being written as automation.
5. STOP, then set the automation button to green Read (R) so playback uses what you performed. (Tip: tap Latch while touching to hold the marker in place after you lift your finger.)

Q-Links: the four knobs that run the screen

The One's four touch-sensitive Q-Link knobs control one column of parameters at a time — what they control is a choice you make, per screen and per project. The lights above the knobs show which column is live.

1. Tap a Q-Link knob — parameters it controls are outlined on screen with a yellow box marked Q (Screen mode). The knob you touch is the column you're turning.
2. Press the Q-LINK button to cycle which bank/column of parameters the knobs control; Shift + Q-LINK steps backward.
3. Hold the Q-LINK button to open the Q-Link window and switch modes. New to the machine? Turn on Q-Link Status — a pop-up shows the current controls and values every time you touch a knob.
4. Go deeper in Q-Link Edit (Menu): assign the knobs to Project, Track, Pad Scene, Pad Parameter, MIDI, or Screen parameters — or use Learn to point a knob at almost anything.
5. Remember where you met them before: Sample Edit trimming runs on Q-Link columns, and your New Project loads with Q-Links pre-mapped to shape the drum track.

Song mode: chain sequences into a record

When your project holds an intro, a verse, a hook, and a bridge as separate sequences, Song Mode is the playlist that makes them one record. Stop playback first, then Menu → Song.

1. Each sequence in your project sits on a pad. Tap Insert to add a step, Delete to remove the selected one.
2. Set a step's sequence: tap its Sequence field and turn the data dial. Set its Repeat field the same way (1 = plays through once).
3. Tempo rule — learn this one: every sequence carries its own tempo, and the project also has a global tempo. Playback follows whichever the SEQ/GBL button (top of screen) says. The guide recommends tapping it to GBL and entering one global tempo so the whole song runs at a single pace.
4. Press PLAY and let it run the chain. Adjust repeats until the structure breathes right.
5. Want it as one long sequence instead? Convert to Seq bakes the chain into a single sequence you can keep editing in the Arranger.

Save the project, export the record — stems included

Two different finish lines: the project (everything, editable forever) and the audio (what the world hears). The Save window handles both, plus a few you didn't expect.

Save the project

1. Press MENU → Save (or Shift + BROWSE — the Browse button's second job is Save).
2. Tap Project As, pick the storage in the left column (Internal, MPC Documents, your SD card, a USB drive), double-tap folders to enter them, name the file in the File Name field, tap Save.
3. Save parts the same way when they're worth keeping: a Track, a Drum Program (your edited kit), a single Sample, a Track FX Rack.

Export audio

1. From Song Mode, tap Export — the whole song renders. From Main Mode, tap the Project field (top-left) → Export — the current sequence renders.
2. Set Start Bar and End Bar, and give it an Audio Tail of about 2 seconds so reverbs and long one-shots finish speaking.
3. Render Source: Stereo Output = the mixdown. Separate Tracks = stems — one file per track (check Export Returns to get the reverb/delay returns as their own files too).
4. Format: WAV/AIFF up to 32-bit float, FLAC, MP3, or OGG; sample rates 44.1–96 kHz. The guide's advice: 44.1 kHz for most sharing; the Song tutorial exports MP3 for quick online sharing.
5. Tap Export, name it, choose where it lands. Done — that's a record.

From the MPC Sample to the One

Your workflow in one line: the Sample sketches anywhere, the One finishes at home. Here's how work crosses over — samples today, no friction; whole projects with one firmware caveat.

1. The card route (samples — works today): on the MPC Sample, your recordings and the library live on its card under the MPC-Sample/Samples structure. Eject it, slide it into the One's front SD slot.
2. Open the BROWSER → Places → your card. Navigate the folders, audition with ►, and Load to Pool the WAVs your sketch was built from — or Load straight onto pads of a new drum track.
3. Rebuild the sketch on real tracks: drums on a drum track, the loop chopped (Step 8), melodic pieces as keygroups (Step 5). Twenty minutes of rebuilding buys you the full mixer, the Arranger, and stems.
4. The audio route (zero files): Sample's outputs → One's Inputs 1/2 → record the sketch as audio tracks, or re-sample it through the Sampler (Step 6) and chop the performance itself.
5. The USB route: a USB stick in the rear USB-A host port shows in Places too — handy when the card stays in the Sample.

Plugin tracks: a synth living on a track

A drum track plays samples off pads. A keygroup track stretches one sample across the pads. A plugin track holds one built-in instrument — no sample in the pool at all; the track's MIDI notes go in, and the plugin generates the sound. That's the whole mental difference, and it changes how you load, edit, and save.

Three ways to put a plugin on a track

1. From the Browser: find a plugin preset, tap Load. If no tracks exist, a new plugin track is created; otherwise the currently selected track is converted into a plugin track. Repeat for every other plugin you want.
2. From Track Settings: double-tap the track name at the top of the screen, double-tap the Plugin field, and pick from the list (tap Type or Manufacturer to sort it), then Select. Double-tap the Preset field the same way to change the sound without changing the instrument.
3. From Sounds mode: Menu → Sounds, browse the instrument tiles and presets, and load from there — same result, prettier storefront.

Editing and housekeeping

1. Press PROG EDIT (Track Edit) on a plugin track and you get the instrument itself: either a visual representation of the plugin's own interface, or an overview of all its parameters as sliders. Tabs along the bottom of the screen switch parameter pages.
2. Tap the folder icon next to the preset name to load a preset; tap the disk icon to save your own tweaked version. Your edits are yours to keep — save them.
3. Set your default: Preferences holds a Default Plugin Synth setting — the instrument a brand-new plugin track starts with. Pick the one you reach for most.
4. Plugin tracks behave like keygroup tracks for performance: Pad Perform (scales, chords, progressions), Transpose, and Notes mode all apply.

TubeSynth — the vintage analog polysynth

The AIR TubeSynth emulates classic vintage analog polysynths and is based on AIR's Vacuum Pro desktop synth — two variable oscillators, a sub oscillator, a saturating low-pass filter, and five integrated AIR effects. This is the box's dusty-chords-and-warm-pads machine.

The controls that matter

1. Shape (both oscillators): continuously variable — not a switch. Sweep Triangle → Saw → Square → Pulse and stop anywhere in between; the in-between shapes are where TubeSynth lives.
2. Quad + Detune (Oscillator tab): Quad switches on a four-voice emulation of the oscillator; Detune spreads those voices. Small amounts = instant analog width and chorus-like thickness without an effect.
3. Sub Oscillator: its own waveshape and level on the Mixer/Filter tab — weight under a patch without touching your bass track.
4. LP Filter: Cutoff, Reso, Slope (0–24 dB/oct), and Saturation — drive inside the filter itself, the source of the vintage grit. Env ties the filter envelope to cutoff; Keytrack ties cutoff to the note played.
5. Setup tab: Polyphony (Legato, Retrigger, or 2–4 voices), Glide Time for slides, and the Output section — Shape sends the signal through a tube drive, Width sets the stereo spread.
6. Built-in effects: Chorus, tempo-syncable Delay, and a Reverb/Compressor/Hype page live inside the plugin. A TubeSynth patch can arrive mix-ready.

Bassline — mono bass, subs, and 808-style weight

The AIR Bassline plugin emulates classic mono synths with a contemporary twist: one continuously variable oscillator, a sub-octave and a fifth oscillator blended in, a boost section with its own envelope, and glide. Where TubeSynth is chords, Bassline is the one-note-at-a-time low end — including the pitched, sliding 808-style bass you usually need a tuned sample for.

The controls that matter

1. Waveform: continuously variable — Saw Octave, Saw, Square, Sine and everything between. Sine end = pure sub; saw end = audible harmonics that read on small speakers.
2. Sub-Octave + Fifth: blend amounts for an oscillator one octave down and one a fifth up. Sub-Octave is free low-end weight; a little Fifth adds growl and pitch definition.
3. Boost: up to +48 dB of boost at a chosen Boost Freq., with its own envelope amount — punch that only exists at the start of the note, like a kick stitched onto the bass.
4. Filters: LP Cutoff (20 Hz–20 kHz) + Reso + Filter Env for movement, and an HP Cutoff (10–500 Hz) to shave sub mud that eats headroom without adding music.
5. Glide Time: 10 ms–2 s of slide between notes. Short glide = funk; long glide = the trap/808 swoop.
6. Drive: on the Velocity/Global/Chorus tab — Overdrive or Clip algorithm. A touch of Clip on a sine sub gives it harmonics so the bass survives a phone speaker.

The keyboard instruments — Electric, Mellotron, Solina

Three recreations of hardware that defined soul, funk, and prog records. Electric is the electric-piano emulation (the v3.4 guide's keyboard instrument — there is no separate "Stage Piano" in this guide). Mellotron recreates the tape keyboard, with the original tape samples in clean and dirty versions. Solina recreates the classic string synthesizer. All three carry their own built-in effects.

What to reach for

1. Electric — Pickup/Env tab: the pickup's Height and Distance decide how much bark and bell you get when you dig in. Bell/Noise tab adds the tine attack layer. Tremolo (slow, stereo) + a touch of Tube drive is the soul-record recipe; Spring Reverb is built in.
2. Mellotron — Model tab: choose the tape sound and its version. Dirty + a little Age = instant "found on a 1971 record" strings and flutes. Flavor/Compressor/EQ and Delay/Spring Reverb tabs finish it inside the plugin.
3. Solina — Ensemble tab: balance the section faders like mixing a tiny orchestra, then let the ensemble chorus do the shimmering. Low strings + high strings at low volume under a beat = cinematic without a sample.
4. On all three: sections and built-in effects toggle from the buttons on the right side of the screen, from any tab — sound design at performance speed.

Odyssey — the ARP-style circuit synth

The WayOutWare Odyssey is a software recreation of the classic analog Odyssey, built with circuit modeling — the duophonic-leaning, aggressive one of the family. Two oscillators, a famously biting filter, sample & hold, and a built-in tape echo. Where TubeSynth is warm, Odyssey is wired.

The controls that matter

1. VCO 1/2 tab: two oscillators with independent coarse/fine tuning and pulse width — detune VCO 2 a few cents against VCO 1 for movement, or engage Sync for the tearing, metallic lead tones the original is famous for.
2. Mod/Env tab: the LFO plus the Sample & Hold generator — route S&H to the filter at low depth and the patch starts inventing its own rhythm-adjacent motion.
3. Mix/Filter tab: oscillator/noise mixing into the voltage-controlled filter, with a separate high-pass filter and the VCA. The VCF resonance is the attitude knob — this filter wants to talk.
4. Echo tab: a built-in tape echo — short, dark repeats for leads; the wobble is part of the charm.

Hype — the flagship, driven by macros

The AIR Hype plugin is a modern dual-oscillator synthesizer with a wide variety of built-in effects — and convenient macro controls for lightning-fast adjustments. Hype's philosophy is the opposite of TubeSynth's: browse presets like records in a crate, then steer them with eight macros instead of forty parameters.

The controls that matter

1. Macro tab: Cutoff and Reso (the filter), Mod, Distortion, Delay, Reverb, Pumper — a built-in sidechain-style bounce effect — and Volume. These eight are the performance surface; they're also what the Q-Links want to grab.
2. Oscillator side: Osc Mix, each oscillator's shape (the screenshot's "Buzz Saw" and "Knocker"), Wave Start, Formant, and Semi tuning — enough to re-voice a preset without opening the hood.
3. Filter/Amp tab: full filter and amp envelopes when a preset needs surgery — attack, decay, sustain, release, envelope depth, velocity depth.
4. Effects 1 + 2 tabs: LFO/modulation, Distortion and Hype EQ on one page; Delay, Reverb, Compressor, Pumper and Limiter on the other. Hype patches arrive with a mix chain already inside them.
5. Effect on/off switches are accessible in all tabs — kill the reverb to hear the raw patch, bring it back, decide.

DrumSynth — drums synthesized, not sampled

The AIR DrumSynth plugins emulate classic drum machines with multiple synthesis types and carefully crafted built-in effects. Every drum is generated — which means every hit is tunable, consistent, and yours. Eight individual plugins — Clap, Crash, HiHat, Kick, Perc, Ride, Snare, Tom, one per track — or the DrumSynth:Multi, which holds all of them in a single plugin (only one Multi per project).

The controls that matter

1. Model + the parameter rings: each sound has a Model selector (the emulation type) and up to eight parameter knobs that change with the sound — a Kick wants Tune, Hold, Decay, Click; a Clap wants Count, Speed, Color, Room. One-Shot decides whether the hit plays in full or follows your note length.
2. Trans/Dist tab: a Transient shaper (Attack and Sustain, ±100%) plus Distortion with Pre-Shape, Drive (0–60 dB), Threshold and High Cut. Attack up + a little drive = a kick that knocks without a sample layer.
3. EQ/Comp tab: a four-band EQ (Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, High, with Q on the mids) and a compressor per sound. The kit can be mixed inside the plugin.
4. Multi's extra rooms: eight sound tabs, a Send FX tab (Delay, Diffuser, Reverb), and a Mixer/FX/Sends tab — mixer view for levels/pan/mute/solo per drum, FX view for the per-sound effect toggles, Sends view for the shared effects.
5. The built-in effects (Transient, Distortion, EQ, Compressor) can be enabled or disabled from buttons on the right side of the screen while viewing any tab.

Insert FX deep dive — the AIR families

Step 11 taught you where effects live: up to four insert slots per pad or keygroup, per track, per submix, and on the outputs — and up to four on each return. This lesson is what lives there: the AIR effect families from the guide's Effects & Parameters appendix (pp. 360–392). Learn the families and the insert browser stops being a wall of names.

The families

1. Delay / Reverb: AIR Delay, AIR Diff Delay, AIR Multitap Delay, AIR Reverb, AIR Non-Lin Reverb, AIR Spring Reverb. Space and echoes — usually happiest on returns (Step 11) so one tail glues the whole kit.
2. Dynamics: AIR Compressor, AIR Limiter, AIR Maximizer, AIR Noise Gate, AIR Pumper (rhythmic ducking), AIR Transient (attack/sustain shaping), and AIR Channel Strip (EQ + dynamics in one slot — a whole console channel in a single insert).
3. EQ / Filter: AIR Para EQ (the surgical one), AIR Kill EQ, AIR Filter, AIR Vintage Filter, AIR Filter Gate, AIR Enhancer, plus plain HP/LP filters. Tone decisions live here.
4. Harmonic (dirt): AIR Distortion, AIR Diode Clip, AIR Tube Drive, AIR Amp Sim, AIR Flavor, AIR Lo-Fi, AIR Freq Shift, AIR Talk Box. Saturation is the sound of records sounding like records — small doses, early in the chain.
5. Modulation: AIR Chorus, AIR Multi-Chorus, AIR Ensemble, AIR Flanger, AIR Phaser, AIR Fuzz-Wah, Auto Wah, Autopan (+ Sync), AIR Stereo Width, AIR Pitch Shifter, AIR Half Speed, AIR Stutter. Movement and width.
6. Vocal: AIR Vocal Doubler, AIR Vocal Harmonizer, AIR Vocal Tuner — for the day vocals land on the One.