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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1
WELCOME TO THE PERFORMANCE PAD DRUM MACHINE!
The Performance Pad includes over 230 high-fidelity drum/percussion sounds, and is
easy to operate. As you strike the 8 drum pads (each of which can be assigned to any
of the available sounds), the Performance Pad's on-board computer records exactly
when you triggered the drum sound and the dynamics of your playing. You can play
back the part, and edit it in various ways.
Data is retained in memory even if the power is turned off. If the memory fills up with
drum Patterns and Songs, this data can be saved permanently to MIDI System
Exclusive storage devices.
The Performance Pad also includes a library of preset rhythm Patterns prepared by
professional drummers for those who want to start creating Songs in the fastest and
easiest way possible.
1.2
GROUND RULES
The Performance Pad consists of two main elements:
• The drum sounds themselves, recorded using 16-bit resolution (the same resolution
as CDs). For additional realism, many sounds use advanced "dynamic articulation"
techniques so that these sounds, when hit loudly, have a different timbre than when
they're hit softly.
• An internal computer to control and trigger the sounds. This computer simulates an
advanced, easily editable tape recorder.
The Performance Pad offers two main modes,
Perform
(for playback) and
Compose
(for recording). You can switch between these while the Performance Pad is playing,
making it easy to test out different sounds without recording them and then drop back
into record mode.
1.2A
The Pattern/Song Recording Method
When recording with a drum station, it's often easier to divide a song into shorter
individual
Patterns
and work on these rather than record an entire song. A typical
Pattern might be 8,16, or 32 beats long, and correspond to a verse, chorus, bridge,
instrumental, intro, etc. While recording these Patterns, the Performance Pad will be in
Pattern mode
. The Performance Pad holds 50 Preset
(i.e.,
can't be edited) Patterns
and 50 user-programmable Patterns, each of which can be from 1 to 128 beats long.
After perfecting these Patterns,
Song mode
offers two ways to create a song:
• Program a list of Patterns, in the order in which they are to be played.
• Select Patterns in real time, and the Performance Pad will remember your
performance.
The Performance Pad stores up to 100 User-programmable Songs.
Breaking a song into Patterns saves time since elements of a song often repeat.
Example:
The second verse might have the same drum pattern as the first verse.
Rather than record the same Pattern twice, simply record one Pattern, then list it twice
when assembling a Song. This also saves memory (thus leaving room for more
Patterns and Songs) since listing a Song step takes up much less memory than
recording a Pattern.
Summary of Contents for Performance Pad
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