Getting Started with Krotos Studio
Ready to see what you can do with Krotos Studio? Get started with ease by following this walkthrough!
Krotos Studio is both an audio plugin and a standalone app. It can run inside Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) or as a desktop application. There is also a native plugin for DaVinci Resolve.
Installation
To install Krotos Studio, Login at krotos.studio and download the right software for your operating system from My Account > Downloads.
Once downloaded, launch the installer and follow the installation process.
Opening the Software
VST
To add the plugin to your session, you will need to create a MIDI or instrument track and look for it in your plugin list. You may need to re-sync your plugins within your DAW after installation.
Standalone
To use the standalone app, look for 'Krotos Studio' on your desktop, or within the start menu (on Windows), or in your applications folder (on Mac).
Signing in
You will need to sign in to your Krotos audio account from within the plugin or standalone version of Krotos Studio. If you are a new user, you would have created this account to complete the checkout in your browser.
You must be connected to the internet to use Krotos Studio.
How to install Krotos Studio sound effects presets
Factory Content
Once you are signed in, you will be presented with a welcome screen which provides you with some information about the software. Click the ‘Get Factory Content’ button. This takes you to the krotos.studio website downloads section.
Next, click the 'Factory Content 1.0.0' installer download button for your operating system (macOS or Windows):
Wait for your sound library to finish downloading, then run the installer.
During the installation process, you will be able to choose where you would like the library to be installed (or you can leave it at the default location).
Once installed, open Krotos Studio to see the factory library now available to you!
Installing Content Libraries
We release new content libraries for Krotos Studio every month as part of the subscription.
The content libraries will be installed from within the library view in the software.
- Click to Download the pack
- When finished the content will be automatically added to your library.
Navigation
Krotos Studio is designed for you to access the most essential sound effects available for your content. Here are the controls explained, from left to right:
Menu: Save and recall sounds from here
Search Bar: Use this to search for the sounds you need, for example, City, Forest, Pistol, Riser, Whoosh.
Categories: We have grouped Krotos Studio’s sounds into essential scenarios, such as ‘ambiences, footsteps, Foley, whoosh’. Simply click on the category you’d like to explore.
Presets: Within each category is a selection of presets. For example, in ‘Ambiences’, you’ll find different environment presets such as Suburb, Apartment & Countryside. Scroll up and down using your mouse to fully explore the range of presets on offer for each category.
To create your own unique sounds, select a category and then select a preset that matches the scene you are working on. Krotos Studio will load it up, ready to use.
Performance Area: This is how you interact with the sounds in Krotos Studio. Each preset has an intuitive layout to provide refined control over the sound.
Overall Volume: This sets the volume of Krotos Studio.
With the basic controls out of the way, all that is left to do is start performing!
Performing Sounds
To create sounds in Krotos Studio, use the performance area. The performance area of each preset is unique to that preset and will feature intuitive layout controls that let you trigger and refine that specific sound.
XY Pads
These square areas in the performance area can be clicked on and dragged to trigger a performance. This is written on the XY pad itself, as it is a key component to interacting with the preset.
On presets with multiple XY Pads, the leftmost pad will be the one that triggers the sounds, whilst the other XY pads, dials and buttons are used to adjust the individual elements within the preset.
The ‘Ambience’ presets play back automatically once selected.
Controlling the Sound Effects in Krotos Studio
Each preset has descriptive terms situated around the XY pads. In ‘Countryside’ for example, you have ‘Birds and Insects’ and ‘Wind’ around the leftmost pad, and ‘Farm Animals’ and ‘Stream’ around the rightmost pad.
The closer you position the dot to these terms, the more of that particular characteristic you will hear. Keep the dot closer to the centre to hear all four elements together.
Each preset has an intuitive layout to provide refined control over the sound. We will demonstrate some examples of these a little later.
Adding Sound Effects From Krotos Studio to Your Project
Adding sounds from Krotos Studio to your project is as simple as dragging and dropping.
As you perform your sounds, Krotos Studio is already capturing your performance in the background. You will see this ‘recording’ message when you interact with the performance controls:
When you stop performing your sound, Krotos Studio will display the message “Drag Recording”
Simply click and drag from the ‘Drag Recording’ message to the timeline in your software, and release the click. The sound will appear in your project on an audio track.
Krotos Studio can add sounds pretty much anywhere - Whether it is video editing software like Premiere or Davinci, a DAW like Pro Tools or Reaper, or a Game Engine and middleware like Unreal Engine, Unity, FMOD or Wwise.
…Or you can simply drag the sound to a location on your computer's file system if you want to save the sound for later.
Krotos Studio only produces stereo files. In certain environments, you may need to add a stereo track to your timeline prior to dragging sounds from Krotos Studio into your projects.
Saving Presets
If you have made changes to a preset, you can save these using the burger menu on the UI. This means that your sounds can be recalled in the way that you have set the presets.
And that's all there is to it! Krotos Studio is designed to give you straightforward, fast sounds quickly and easily, so you can carry on with your project without a hitch. Have fun!
