D16 Group Drumazon, User Manual

Page 1: ...User Manual Drum Machine ...

Page 2: ...Overview Interface Overview Interface The graphical interface of the Drumazon is divided into two main parts Control panel Used for main plug in preset pattern and audio output management 1 Control panel ...

Page 3: ...2 Overview Interface 1 Drum machine module Essential part responsible for editing sequence patterns and generating the sound Drum module ...

Page 4: ...be changed in a Options panel described later When Drumazon is loaded the 11 individual drum sounds 1 extra trigger out sound described later are mapped to first output To change the output assignment just click and drag on the LED above the drum sound settings Sounds can be mapped to any available output one of 12 For example the Open and Closed Hi Hats could be assigned to a single output 2 toge...

Page 5: ...d more natural Preset management All the parameter settings level tuning decay etc for a complete Drumazon drum kit are stored in a Preset Drumazon can store a total of 128 presets The Preset browser tool is provided to simplify the organization and use of Presets The Preset section on GUI is used for navigation through the preset bank To read more about preset management go to chapter Preset Mana...

Page 6: ...the original 909 Note velocity is used to determine how loud notes are played To play back accented notes in this way set the velocity to 127 For normal parts set the velocity to a lower value e g 100 Although notes can be played back with any velocity from 0 to 127 In External mode only the controls from Synthesis section and Control module functions work Step buttons located on Drumazon s GUI se...

Page 7: ...start play back of the default internal patterns Drumazon can be set to synchronise perfectly to the host tempo by setting the Int Sync led to off or to play to its own tempo set by turning the Int Sync led on With internal synchronization turned on each of the internal patterns has its own Tempo value which can be adjusted by tweaking the Tempo dial Only in the Pattern write mode described later ...

Page 8: ...used to select patterns Native mode The first 12 buttons correspond to all the half tones in an octave notes are under the buttons The last 4 buttons are used to select the bank The buttons toggle between the lower banks dimly lit red LED and the upper banks brightly lit red LED The currently selected pattern is shown on the Drumazon s interface After loading Drumazon the pattern corresponding to ...

Page 9: ...o continually cycle through these patterns To select the start pattern press the appropriate Step button with the mouse To select the last pattern in the range select another pattern WHILST holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard On MacOS use Apple CMD key instead of CTRL key Drumazon will now cycle up through the range and repeat A MIDI keyboard can be used to select a range to play To do this ...

Page 10: ... mode is recommended for creating drum line arrangement in host application Releasing the key and sending a Note off will eventually stop the pattern It depends on whether the Note Off Mode State is set in configurational panel is checked To change Note Off Mode open configurational window by clicking Options button Go to Sequencer tab and check or uncheck the Note Off Mode State checkbox in Curre...

Page 11: ...splay unit In format TONE NAME or OCTAVE NUMBER Midi output Drumazon has permanently active MIDI output which allows to control external instrument virtual or hardware by Drumazon s internal sequencer It works either in Native or Host mode Plug in sends a midi note codes accordingly to the current drum map configuration to its Midi output Velocity values of Midi notes sent by Drumazon are calculat...

Page 12: ...ection is for sound editing in Drumazon There are available parameters for 11 drum sounds like Bass Drum Snare Drum Low Tom Middle Tom High Tom Rim Shot Hand Clap Closed Hihats Open Hihats Crash Ride Sound parameters Sound editing 3 ...

Page 13: ... instrument Tune depth Range of the frequency envelope Snare Drum Tune Release time of the frequency envelope Tone Noise amplitude release time Tune depth Range of the frequency envelope Decay Decay time of amplitude Snapy Amplitude value of the noise Low Tom Middle Tom High Tom Tune Base frequency of the instrument Tune depth Range of the frequency envelope Decay Decay time of amplitude Tone Nois...

Page 14: ...Closed Hihats Tune Base frequency of the instrument Ch decay Decay time of amplitude Open Hihats Tune Base frequency of the instrument Oh decay Decay time of amplitude Crash Tune Base frequency of the instrument Crash decay Decay time of amplitude Ride Tune Base frequency of the instrument Ride decay Decay time of amplitude Sound editing 3 ...

Page 15: ...nes By default this signal is off To turn it on you need to decide which track instrument will be triggering this sound Check out further chapters for the details Master volume To change the Drumazon s output volume just tweak the Volume knob Volume knob Sound editing Trigger out Master volume 3 ...

Page 16: ...ere To edit another pattern other than the current one playing use the Prev and Next buttons The playing pattern won t change but the edited pattern will be the newly selected one Every pattern comprises of 11 tracks one for each instrument The parts are edited using the Step buttons Pattern write button Pattern display and navigation Step buttons Drumline editing Pattern editing 4 ...

Page 17: ... to the sound character in other ways The Rim Shot Hand Clap Crash and Ride have only two possible step values On or Off To select an instrument track to edit use the Instr Sel knob However the LEDs below the Step buttons can also be used We can select a single instrument by clicking on it in the Track selector bar However to select more than one instrument for editing purposes press and hold CTRL...

Page 18: ...te any sound playing on a step as a normal sound will be overwritten if a Flam is set for that measure and vice versa For example having a snare playing on step 5 and then putting a Flam on that step would delete the normal snare hit at that point Flam parts can be mixed with normal parts for a given instrument as long as they don t occur on the same step Tap mode Tap mode allows patterns to be TA...

Page 19: ...non accented if you tap using the right button of the pair the sound will be entered as accented The remaining six instruments have only two states on or off so they re represented by a single buttons The notes are quantized to the nearest step 1 To enter Tap mode press the Tap button whilst in Patt Write mode 2 Press Start button 3 Pressing the Step buttons will trigger the Instrument listed belo...

Page 20: ...or start to blink to indicate that there is data in the buffer Pressed with CTRL copies whole pattern to a buffer Paste Pastes buffer to the selected tracks If do not change destination tracks they ll be copied in the same place in the same or other pattern But you can change it by a selecting some other tracks on the Track selector Clear Clears selected tracks Pressed with CTRL key clears whole p...

Page 21: ...de press the Length button which will light up LED s above Step buttons indicate the number of steps in the pattern Pressing a Step button will make it the last step in the pattern To leave this mode just press the Length button again Pattern editing functions LEDs indicating pattern length Step buttons Drumline editing Pattern editing 4 ...

Page 22: ...nob controls how much extra volume is added to a step Set to zero no Total accent is added Tempo scale On the Active scale bar the lit LED marks the current Tempo scale one of four Tempo scale can be described as the number of steps per quarter note Default value is four steps per quarter note Successively counting from the bottom there are 8 steps per quarter note 4 steps per quarter note 6 steps...

Page 23: ...en the Pattern write mode is active With Auto follow button turned off to choose a pattern to edit we need to navigate through all the available patterns using the Prev and Next buttons With Auto follow turned on currently playing pattern becomes the edited one immediately Switching between patterns using keys Prev and Next is disabled Shuffle parameter Pattern follow Drumline editing Pattern edit...

Page 24: ...e newly created pattern Pressing enter ends the editing process 2 To save pattern just click Next button with CTRL key pressed on keyboard The menu should appear Choose the Save pattern option to show file save dialog To save all patterns currently stored in Drumazon choose Save pattern bank option Note On MacOS use Apple CMD key instead of CTRL key Pattern display and navigation Saving pattern Dr...

Page 25: ...g To load whole bank of patterns to Drumazon s memory choose Load pattern bank option Following file types are saved and loaded by Drumazon drptrb Bank consisting all 96 patterns drptr Single pattern Loading pattern Drumline editing Loading and saving patterns 4 Note Files saved by Drumazon are in standard XML format and can be easily edited within any text editor ...

Page 26: ...ode the GUI functionality changes slightly The Track selector LEDs select which instrument will be included in the randomization Clicking will turn them on or off The same principles apply as during instrument selection using CTRL key on keyboard Rand mode button Instrument LED selector Randomizing drum lines Randomize 5 ...

Page 27: ...ar by the Level knob for each selected instrument will flash This indicates that they are now assigned to Rand Mode They are used to determine the intensity of the randomization for that instrument That is how much randomization will occur across the selected steps Pattern display and navigation Level knobs in instruments parameters Randomizing drum lines Randomize 5 ...

Page 28: ...Accept button If you wish to leave unchanged drum line after randomization because you don t like the result just press Undo To leave Random mode press Rand Mode button once again Pattern editing functions Rand mode button Randomizing drum lines Randomize 5 ...

Page 29: ...the new name with the Enter button Prev Next Buttons used to navigate through the preset bank Next button moves the browser to the next preset If the current preset is the last preset in a group pressing Next moves the browser to the first preset in the subsequent group Prev button moves the browser to the previous preset If the current preset is the first preset in a group pressing Prev moves the...

Page 30: ...er settings and in the preset bank will be restored Preset Browser As it was mentioned the preset bank in the plug in has a hierarchical structure i e presets are organized in groups Presets can be selected by Next Prev buttons which navigate through the structure in a linear way or by using the Preset Browser The Preset Browser is a tool which allows to easily manage the preset structure To open ...

Page 31: ...30 The Preset Browser will be displayed on the GUI Preset browser Preset Management Preset Browser 6 ...

Page 32: ...de shows the list of groups in the preset bank The right side shows the list of presets in the selected group List of groups in the preset bank List of presets in the selected group Preset Management Preset Browser 6 ...

Page 33: ...hange its position in the group by dropping it in a different slot in the list of presets in a selected group Move the preset to a different group by dragging and dropping it in the chosen slot in the group list Holding CTRL or SHIFT and using the mouse button allows to select more presets Holding CTRL and clicking on presets selects single items Using SHIFT allows to select a range of presets The...

Page 34: ...its name Pastes the edited preset to the buffer works exactly like the combination of Prev and CTRL Overwrites the selected preset with the buffer content works exactly like the combination of Next and CTRL The postfix _copy is added to the name of the preset pasted from the buffer Works exactly like Prev on GUI allows to move backwards on the hierarchical structure of presets Works exactly like N...

Page 35: ... file Bank Load loads the entire bank of presets from a file file drprb Drumazon bank Bank Save saves the entire bank of presets to a file Loading and Saving presets from the hard drive functions Note Before saving the preset to a file save it in Drumazon using CTRL Browse when On demand function is selected in the plug in configuration Note Files saved by Drumazon are compatible with XML format w...

Page 36: ... resources loaded instead of default presets Patterns indicates personal pattern banks loaded with every new instance of the plug in in the host application Drum map configures the drum map for External mode Midi control configures MIDI communications with the plug in Clicking on Options while holding CTRL opens a window with information about the version and the license owner Options button Confi...

Page 37: ...ng the default internal audio outputs mapping If you have your favorite audio output configuration You may set it to be the default one recalled after each time when you load the plug in into host application Default output assigns Audio outputs configuration Configuration Outputs tab 7 ...

Page 38: ...ew instances of the plug in When removing any instance of the plug in from the host application the configuration file is saved Default outputs type This is responsible for choosing the type of outputs We re allowed to choose one of the two available types Stereo or Mono The content of the group is saved in the Drumazon configuration file and applies to all new instances of the plug in When removi...

Page 39: ...ecide which track instrument will be triggering this sound by selecting it from Source combo box Chosen track instrument apart from regular role will also be responsible for controlling trigger out sound Trigger out will be mixed into the selected output one of twelve available Use the Output combo box to select the audio output for Trigger out Trigger output Configuration Outputs tab 7 ...

Page 40: ... of controls from the Seq Settings section on GUI The Note Off Mode state checkbox is an exception and it is not available on GUI It is only available in this tab Host mode description available in earlier chapters Current settings Play mode settings Configuration Sequencer tab 7 ...

Page 41: ...s sync problems with some hosts It mainly concerns Native mode The properly written host should send a Transport Change code to the plug in after pressing the Play button in the host application When the By Transport Change option is selected then don t need to add an extra Midi track to force the plug in to start to play It should start to play automatically In some cases it doesn t work If this ...

Page 42: ...On Demand If any parameter is changed the change is not saved in the current preset until the Store option is used CTRL Browse Selecting a different preset from the bank causes irreversible loss to changes applied to the parameters unless the Store option is used The Preset Storing flag is saved in the Drumazon configuration file and applies to all new instances of the plug in When removing any in...

Page 43: ...n loads the factory presets with every new instance of the plug in Clear Preset Zeroed parameters with every new instance of the plug in User Defined Preset bank selected by the user When choosing User Defined option the Browse button on the right side is activated Using this button opens a dialog box in order to select a path to the user s preset bank Confirming the path saves it in the Drumazon ...

Page 44: ... Drumazon Choosing this option loads the factory patterns with every new instance of the plug in Clear Patterns With every new instance of the plug in an empty preset bank is loaded User Defined Patterns bank selected by the user When choosing User Defined option the Browse button on the right side is activated Using this button opens a dialog box in order to select a path to the user s patterns b...

Page 45: ...he current drum map use the Load Save buttons from this group Load Loads a custom drum map from a file drdrmap Drumazon drum map Save Saves a current drum map to a file Current drum map Note There s no way to re edit drum map using a Drumazon s UI you need to save default drum map to a file first and re edit it within any text editor Files saved by Drumazon are XML compatible Configuration Drum ma...

Page 46: ...to set the new default Drum Map which will be loaded every time we load Drumazon in the host application When choosing User Defined option the Browse button on the right side is activated Using this button opens a dialog box in order to select a path to the user s drum map Confirming the path saves it in the Drumazon configuration file The selected drum map will be loaded as default The text box o...

Page 47: ... control tab Drumazon can assign its controls on GUI to any MIDI CC Midi Control Change allowing the control of the plug in using external hardware or software Midi control tab Configuration Midi control tab 7 ...

Page 48: ...Map Checkbox which activates a default MIDI CC map When the map is activated it will be loaded with creating a new instance of the plug in Midi learn Assigning a Drumazon control to the MIDI controller requires 1 Checking Midi Learn Mode checkbox in the Midi Control tab or press the Midi Learn button in the Midi section on GUI Midi Learn Mode selection checkbox Midi section Configuration Midi cont...

Page 49: ... directed to Drumazon The order of these actions is irrelevant During the above mentioned actions the status bar informs about the currently changing values of controls and provides their names When a MIDI control GUI control link is established a line is added to the MIDI CC link list When a link is established for a controller it is possible to repeat the operation for the next MIDI CC and param...

Page 50: ... Unlinking and midi link management On the right side of the link list there are 4 function buttons located Removes a selected link choosing any link from the list and clicking on it highlights the selected link Using this button removes the selected link Removes all MIDI CC links Loads link lists MIDI maps from file drccmap Drumazon MIDI CC Map Saves link lists MIDI maps to file MIDI CC link list...

Page 51: ...tton on the right 2 Click Browse and select a file with a saved MIDI Map After selecting the MIDI map the text box on the left from the Browse button shows the path to the active map file A default MIDI map is loaded each time when the plug in is loaded Default MIDI Map selection Configuration Midi control tab 7 ...

Page 52: ...ive mode 8 Host mode 9 Midi output 10 3 Sound editing 11 Trigger out 14 Master volume 14 4 Drumline editing 15 Pattern editing 15 Flam mode 17 Tap mode 17 Editing functions 19 Length of the pattern 20 Total accent 21 Tempo scale 21 Shuffle 22 Pattern follow 22 Loading and saving patterns 23 Saving patterns 23 Loading patterns 24 5 Randomizing drum lines 25 Randomize 25 Contents 8 ...

Page 53: ...ault outputs type 37 Trigger output 38 Sequencer tab 39 Current Settings 39 Default Settings 40 Host play detection 40 Presets tab 41 Preset Storing 41 Default Presets 42 Patterns tab 43 Drum map tab 44 Current Drum map 44 Default Drum map 45 Midi control tab 46 Midi learn 47 Unlinking and midi link management 49 Default MIDI Map 50 8 Contents 51 Contents 8 ...