Quick Start : getting Unity Session installed, configuring your sytem, and getting Unity Session set up for optimum performance.

Installation of Software
Now, insert the ‘Unity Session CD-ROM’ into your CD-ROM drive. Double click the installer named ‘Unity Session 3.0 Installer’ on the CD-ROM. Read the start up text and license agreement.
When prompted by the installer, enter in the installer password from your registration sticker inside your CD-ROM jewel case. Select where you want to place the ‘Unity Session 3.0 Folder’ on your hard disk. That’s it. Now relax while all the files are being copied to your hard disk.
At the end of the installation, two things are going to happen. First, the ‘Unity Session Release Notes’ text document is going to be opened. This document duplicates some of the information later on in this manual in the ‘Getting Started’ chapter. Check this out for quick hints on getting going with Unity Session. The second thing that is going to happen is that the ‘Unity Session Authorizer’ application is going to be launched. This application is used to both register the software as well as authorize your machine to use the Unity Session.
The installer inserts trial authorization into your machine. This means that you can use the full functionality of Unity Session for a month before you authorize your software. Each time you use any of the components of Unity Session, you will be reminded that you need to register. The steps for registration and authorization are:
1. Register the software with ‘Unity Session Authorizer’ via email or fax.
2. Receive an authorization response code from BitHeadz upon receipt of your registration information.
3. Enter the registration number and response code into the ‘Unity Session Authorizer’ application, and authorize the software.
After the main Unity Session CD-ROM is installed, you will want to install the included content CD-ROMs. Install ‘Black & Whites CD-ROM’, ‘Pop Drums CD-ROM’, and ‘Orchestral Strings CD-ROM’ by double-clicking the sound content installers and following the instructions.
For more detailed information on Installation and Authorization refer to the Unity Manual.pdf.

Check your Registration
You can check your registration by opening up ‘Unity Session Authorizer’ after you have authorized. Your registration number will be shown. Note that only the ‘Deauthorize’ button is enabled. You can also check your current registration number at any time by opening up the ‘Unity’ control panel. Your registration number is shown in the ‘About’ box.

Increase Unity Server Memory
The default memory size of the Unity Server engine is 64 Mbytes. If you have more than 128 Mbytes of memory in your machine, you should increase this. The more memory you give Unity, the more memory you will have for loading in large sounds.
For OS 9 users, the Unity control panel is found in the control panel folder.
For OS X users, the control panel is found in the ‘CFMSupport’ folder of your main ‘Library’ folder. Change the memory setting on the configuration page of the control panel.

Updating from Previous Versions
The 3.x installation is compatible with older versions of Retro AS-1 and Unity DS-1. That is, the old version and 3.x can coexist on the same system. You will need to copy over your old 2.x files so that Unity Session can find them.
Note that Unity Session can read 1.x and 2.x version files from Retro AS-1 and Unity DS-1, but the old versions cannot read Unity Session files.
From Retro AS-1
All of the Unity Session banks are installed in the ‘Banks’ folder located in the ‘System
Folder: Application Support: BitHeadz: Unity’. Copy your old Retro ‘Programs’ folder into the new ‘Banks’ folder in the ‘System Folder’.

From Unity DS-1
Copy your old Unity ‘Banks’ folder into the new ‘Banks’ folder in the ‘System Folder

Configuring Your System
For OS 9, you should have virtual memory turned off in the ‘Memory’ control panel. Unity Session will work just fine with virtual memory on, but the MIDI latency will be rather large. You should also turn off AppleTalk for the best MIDI performance.
OS X users don’t have to worry about virtual memory. It is always on for OS X, but the MIDI and
audio subsystem works just fine with it on.

Number Of MIDI Devices
The default is one MIDI device. Each MIDI device is 16 MIDI channels. You can change the number of MIDI devices with the ‘Unity’ control panel.
For OS 9 users, the ‘Unity’ control panel is found in the control panel folder. For OS X users, the control panel is found in the ‘CFMSupport’ folder of your main ‘Library’ folder.
Set the number of devices from 1 to 8. All Unity applications and drivers will use the number of devices for both MIDI input and audio output. If you want to play more that 16 channels of Unity from external MIDI sources, set the number of devices appropriately. Then, the MIDI input utility chosen below will be configured for multiple device input.

Installing Custom Sounds
There are two ways to add additional sounds to Unity Session.

Copy To Banks Folder
The simplest way is to copy your sounds to the ‘Banks’ folder. For OS 9 users, the ‘Application Support’ folder is found in your ‘System Folder’. The banks folder is in ‘System Folder: Application Support: BitHeadz: Unity’. Copy your sounds there.
*Note: To prevent the effects from being restored when Unity is restarted, turn off the ‘Restore State’ checkbox on the ‘User’ page of the ‘Unity’ control panel.

Convert file formats on the fly
Unity Session can convert these different file formats on the fly from the Banks folder:
– Unity 3.x
– Unity DS-1 1.x and 2.x
– Retro AS-1 1.x and 2.x
– Gigasampler
– DLS
– SampleCell instruments and banks
– Sound Fonts
– AIFF
– Sound Designer II
– Wave
SampleCell samples references by the SampleCell instruments should be put into the ‘Samples’ folder next to the ‘Banks’ folder. This means that the Unity server will find the referenced samples correctly, but will not display the samples in banks lists in Unity applications or in your sequencer.

Control Panel Banks
The second way is to specify a user-defined banks folder in the ‘Unity’ control panel. The sounds from the user-defined folder can be used in addition to, or instead of the default ‘Banks’ folder. You may want to use this feature to simplify looking for banks in banks lists, since you’ll have less banks to sort through. Another reason is to speed up the launching of Unity server as the fewer then umber of banks there are, the quicker the launch.
Open up the control panel and go to the Banks page. You will see a list of user-defined banks, as well as where the default banks are located.
To add a user-defined folder, click on the Add button. You will be asked to specify the folder to add. By default, both banks and samples will be used from the user-defined bank. Alternatively, you can select the folder in the list and change the ‘Use’ popup to ‘Samples’ to specify that the user-defined
folder is to be used for sample linking only (that is, these samples will be used only if referenced by other Unity banks). You can also turn the ‘Use’ to ‘Nothing’ so that the user-defined folder will not be used for either banks or samples.
Note: To turn off the use of the default banks and samples, change the ‘Use Default Banks’ and ‘Use Default Samples’ to ‘Nothing’.

Play From Disk
When installing custom sounds, notably Gigasampler files, you may need to use the play from disk functionality with Unity Session. First, however, it is recommended that you try increasing your ‘Unity’ control panel memory first before resorting to play from disk. You will get better performance playing out of memory – you will have better polyphony, as well as conflicting with hard disk playback sequencers less. If you have the memory in your machine, try increasing your ‘Unity’ control panel memory to at least 128 Mbyte or 256 Mbyte. Those of you who have gone the whole nine yards and have 1 GByte of memory or more should allocate 512 Mbyte to Unity Session
for the best performance.
If you’ve tried increasing your memory and still need access to more sounds at a time, turn on the play from disk functionality. To do this, go to the ‘Play From Disk’ page of the control panel.
Turn on the ‘Play From Disk’ checkbox. Try using the rest of the default settings at first. Parameters of interest include the ‘Accessors’ and the ‘Sample Size Threshold’. ‘Accessors’ is the maximum number of simultaneous notes for a single sample. ‘Sample Size Threshold’ is the sample size above which the sample will be played from disk. Samples smaller than this threshold will be played from memory.
For More information on using Unity Session with your Sequencer please refer to CHAPTER 6 in the Unity Manual.pdf Using with a Sequencer.

Knowledge Base