
Hey keyboard players! Do you feel kind of left out because of the cool guitar amps that Studio One added in version 4.6? Well, this week's tip is all about having fun, and bringing power chord mentality to keyboard, courtesy of those State Space amps. Listen to the audio example, and you'll hear what I'm talking about.
And so you can get started having fun, you don't even have to learn what's going on to get that sound you just heard. Download Power Chordz.instrument, drag it into the track column, feed it from your favorite MIDI keyboard, and start playing.
Download here.
Now, I know some of you prefer just to download a preset and get on with your life, and that's fine-but for those who want some reverse engineering, here's what's under the hood.
Figure 1: The Multi-Instrument is pretty basic-it just bundles a Chorder Note FX and Mai Tai together.
The preset starts with a Multi-Instrument (Fig. 1) that consists of the Chorder Note FX, and Mai Tai synthesizer. The Chorder plays tonic, fifth above, an octave above, octave+fifth above, and two octaves above when you hit a keyboard key-your basic it's not major, and it's not minor type of power chord.
The Mai Tai uses a super-simple variation on the Init preset. In Fig. 2, anything that's not relevant is grayed out. Turn off Osc 2, Noise, LFO 1, and LFO 2. There's no modulation other than pitch bend, and no FX. Envelope 2 and Envelope 3 aren't used. I set Pitch Bend to 7 semitones to do whammy bar effects, but adjust to taste. Also, you might want to play around with the Quality parameter. I'm allergic to anything called normal, so if you are as well, try the 80s, High, and Supreme settings to see if you like one of those better.
Figure 2: The Mai Tai preset uses simple waveforms, which is what you want when feeding amp sims and other distortion-oriented plug-ins.
Look in the instrument's mixer channel, and you'll see four Insert effects: Pro EQ, Ampire, Open Air, and Binaural Pan. You can check out their settings by opening them up, but the Ampire settings (Fig. 3) deserve a bit of explanation.
Figure 3: Ampire is using the Dual Amplifier and 4 12 MFB speaker cabinet, but just about any amp and cab has their merits.
The reason for choosing the Dual Amplifier is because it's really three amps in one, as selected by the Channel knob on the right-I figured you'd appreciate having three separate sounds without having to do anything other than adjust one knob. Try different cabs and amps, but be forewarned-you can really go down an Endless Rabbit Hole of Tone, because there are a lot of great amp and cab sounds in there. I'll admit that I ended up playing with various permutations and combinations of amps, effects, and cabs for hours.
You can also get creative with the Mai Tai, specifically, the Character controls. I didn't assign any controls to a Control Panel, or set up modulation because having a pseudo- whammy bar pitch wheel was enough to keep me occupied. But, please feel free to come up with your own variations. And of course post your best stuff on the PreSonus Exchange!
North America Stories
10/09/2026
Duff Foreman is an AI-generated announcer who will add color to this month's New Mexico Open...
10/09/2026
Bitmovin is rolling out Encoder Version 3, the next major release of the technology behind its VOD and Live Encoders. Version 3 is built on a premise every stre...
10/09/2026
At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live media services across networks, partners, ...
10/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and Scripps Sports have announced a national broadcast rights agreement for the 2026-27 season, a landmark par...
10/09/2026
The Trusted Partner Network (TPN), the global content security initiative powere...
10/09/2026
The NFL is launching its most expansive creator programming yet, bringing togeth...
10/09/2026
Sportsnet is set to deliver its biggest hockey season ever with a national sched...
10/09/2026
LiveU is now a Clarus Integrated Reseller, bringing Starlink's fast, reliabl...
10/09/2026
Mimir is the cloud-native media production platform built for teams that need to move media fast across live, archive, web, social, and broadcast workflows. At ...
10/09/2026
ATSC is being honored with a 2026 Technology & Engineering Emmy Award by the Nat...
10/09/2026
Audio-Technica has introduced the BP880R Contact Transducer, a specialized micro...
10/09/2026
TMRW Sports in partnership with the LPGA, today announced multiyear U.S. media rights agreements with ESPN and Scripps Sports/ION to bring WTGL, the new women...
10/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) in partnership with Major League Baseball and the Pit...
10/09/2026
Tennis Channel announced today its launch as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel.
Tennis Channel offers viewers a single home for Tennis Channel and Ten...
10/09/2026
Dolby has announced major updates to Dolby OptiView, its live sports platform, ahead of IBC 2026. The updates include new AI-powered intelligence to better unde...
10/09/2026
Dalet has appointed Brian Doheny as CEO. Doheny joined Dalet as President and Chief Revenue Officer in April 2026. Since joining Dalet, Doheny has led the compa...
10/09/2026
Sony, as well as its partner company Nevion, is starting IBC 2026 with a handful of announcements for attendees to see on the show floor.
Sony Announces the 4t...
10/09/2026
The six-year-old venue is expanding capabilities for NFL action, Super Bowl LXI, 2028 Summer Olympics
SoFi Stadium, as well as the surrounding area known as Ho...
10/09/2026
France launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA
Paris, France, September 10, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measuremen...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Leading professional audio manufacturers NUGEN Audio, RTW, Steinberg and Telos Alliance have joined forces with Fraunhofer IDMT to establish a common approach t...
10/09/2026
Built Into Setplex's Zapflex Platform, AI Insider Turns Video Service Data Into Actionable Insights
Setplex today introduced AI Insider, a breakthrough new...
10/09/2026
Managed service changes dialogue without actor-specific training or facial rigging while preserving the original performance and fitting established post-produc...
10/09/2026
The ACT Entertainment tvONE and Green Hippo Pixel Academy has released its autumn course schedule, with hands-on training dates in September, October and Novemb...
10/09/2026
Orange Polska continues to Rely on Viaccess-Orca for Secure TV Services and the Next Phase of its Technology Evolution
Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in T...
10/09/2026
Generate and create directly in your timeline with new AI-powered innovations in...
10/09/2026
Tedial is introducing Media Business Hub (MBH) at IBC 2026, a new business enablement platform designed to help media organizations unlock the full value of the...
10/09/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will unveil the next phase of its transformation at IBC2026 with a preview...
10/09/2026
Fabric Data and TMT Insights today announced that the two companies are combining to create Fabric Insights, uniting authoritative data, purpose-built software,...
10/09/2026
Operative, the preferred advertising and broadcast management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced a comprehensive slate of new pr...
10/09/2026
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics of Europe, has announced the launch of its latest range of handheld signal generation, analysis and monitoring ...
10/09/2026
The partnership begins with native Zixi protocol support on the Kiloview D350 and will extend to deeper product integration and joint go-to-market initiatives
...
10/09/2026
Avid and FilmLight announce strategic partnership to reimagine the color pipelin...
10/09/2026
Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC2026
Brie Clayton September 10, 2026
0 Comments
IBC attendees will get the first look at new ...
10/09/2026
Puget Systems Launches Built Different by Puget Systems, A New Podcast That Go...
10/09/2026
Three Boston Conservatory Dance Alums Honored for Their Early-Career Promise India Hobbs and Demetrius Lee received Princess Grace Awards, while Lilly David t...
10/09/2026
MonoNeon Returns to Berklee to Kick Off Signature Series The Grammy-winning bassist and alumnus performs with students and faculty from the Planet MicroJam In...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/09/2026
Gear up: The latest PC games and major updates are ready to play on GeForce NOW ...
10/09/2026
AI inference chipmaker d-Matrix today announced it will use NVIDIA NVLink Fusion to connect its next-generation Raptor XPUs to NVIDIA's AI infrastructure pl...
09/09/2026
Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...
09/09/2026
Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...
09/09/2026
Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...
09/09/2026
Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...
09/09/2026
Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14).
XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...
09/09/2026
swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...