Chapter 6. Programming Drums

Time

This lesson takes approximately 60 minutes to complete.

Goals

Program a drum pattern in Ultrabeat

 

Add rhythmic accents

 

Randomize note velocity and position

 

Create drum rolls

In most popular modern music genres, drums are the backbone of the instrumentation. They provide the foundation for the tempo and the groove of the piece. In recording sessions, when not all of the instruments are tracked at the same time, drums are usually recorded or programmed first, so the other musicians can record to their rhythmic reference.

With today’s high production standards, producing drum tracks usually involves using several techniques such as live recording, programming, sampling, audio quantizing, and sound replacement. For that reason, music producers and composers must develop drum programming skills.

In this lesson, you will program a pattern in Ultrabeat, Logic’s dedicated drum production plug-in. You will then import the pattern to the Arrange area, and fine-tune the programming, humanize the groove, and add a snare roll using Logic’s MIDI editors.

Programming a Drum Pattern in Ultrabeat

Ultrabeat is a plug-in designed specifically to create drum sounds and to program drum patterns. It integrates all the classic drum synthesis techniques (phase oscillators, frequency modulation, ring modulation, noise generation, and physical modeling) with sample playback and a step sequencer.

In the next exercises, you will choose an existing drum kit and program a drum pattern using Ultrabeat’s interface.

Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

Before you start programming a pattern, you need to choose the drum sounds you will be using. In Ultrabeat, you can load a drum kit made up of 24 drum sounds, plus one bass sound that you can play chromatically.

Let’s insert Ultrabeat on a software instrument’s channel strip, choose a drum kit, get to know the layout of Ultrabeat’s interface, and preview the individual drum sounds.

  1. Choose File > New (or press Command-N).

  2. In the Templates dialog, click the Empty Project template.

  3. Create a software instrument track, and select Open Library.

    A software instrument track is created, and its channel strip appears in the Inspector. The Library opens, displaying collections of software instrument channel strip settings.

    You will insert the Ultrabeat plug-in directly into the software instrument channel strip.

  4. Click the channel strip’s Instrument slot, and choose Ultrabeat (Drum Synth) from the pop-up menu.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    Ultrabeat is inserted, a default drum kit is loaded, and the Ultrabeat interface opens. The Library updates to display Ultrabeat settings.

    All plug-in windows have a black header that contains buttons and menus to access plug-in settings and to navigate between plug-ins. For now, you can close that section to reduce screen clutter. You will use the Library to access the plug-in settings.

  5. At the right of the plug-in window title bar, click the button.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    The plug-in header is hidden.

    Ultrabeat’s interface comprises three parts:

    • The Assignment section, where you can assign drum sounds to MIDI notes and adjust each sound’s volume, pan, mute, and solo settings. The currently selected sound is highlighted in white.

    • The Synthesizer section, occupying most of the window, where you can tweak the parameters of the selected sound.

    • The step sequencer, where you can program a sequence for the selected sound.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    To the left of the Assignment section, a thin keyboard extends vertically. In front of each key appears the name of the sound assigned to it, and the sound’s number. Sounds are numbered 01 through 25, from bottom to top. Each sound area also has a blue volume slider, a red Mute button, a yellow Solo button, and a Pan knob.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    Let’s listen to those drum sounds. You can click the keys of the vertical keyboard to preview individual sounds.

  6. Click a key on the vertical keyboard.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    The key is depressed and highlighted in blue, and the corresponding sound is played.

    Using a MIDI keyboard is the best way to preview a drum kit, as you can play a little groove to get the feel of the sounds. MIDI notes C1 through B2 trigger sounds 01 through 24, used for drum sounds, while MIDI notes C3 and above play sound 25 chromatically, usually used for a bass sound.

  7. Play the lowest C on your MIDI keyboard, while watching the MIDI Activity display in the Transport bar.

    If the MIDI In display doesn’t show a C1, press your external MIDI controller keyboard’s Octave Up or Down buttons until the lowest C triggers a C1.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    In Ultrabeat, you can see the lowest key light up (in blue) and you’ll hear sound 01, a kick drum.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds
  8. Play a C#1, and keep going up chromatically on your keyboard.

    You see the corresponding Ultrabeat key light up, and the sound assigned to that key is played. When you reach C3 and up, you can play the bass sound chromatically.

    Are you feeling adventurous? Try alternating two fingers of your left hand on C1 and E1 to play the kick and snare, while using your right hand to play the hi-hat on F#1. Skilled keyboard players can even play a drum groove with the left hand while the right hand plays a bass line!

    Notice that sound 01 is highlighted in white. That’s the currently selected sound. Its Synthesiszer parameters are displayed in the Synthesiszer section, and its sequence in the step sequencer.

  9. Click the name of sound 02, Rim Shot.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    Sound 02 is highlighted. The Synthesizer section and the step sequencer update to display the rim shot’s Synthesiszer parameters and sequence.

    Let’s try using other drum kits.

  10. In the Library, select 01 Drum Kits.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds

    A collection of drum kits opens in the right column of the Library.

  11. Select Big Beat Remix Kit.

    After the kit opens, the parameters update in Ultrabeat’s interface. The name of the kit appears in the plug-in window’s title bar and on the track header.

    Choosing a Drum Kit and Previewing Drum Sounds
  12. Use the mouse and the vertical keyboard, or play your MIDI keyboard, to preview the kit.

  13. Make sure the Library has key focus, and press Down Arrow.

    The next drum kit is loaded, and you can preview it.

  14. Press Up Arrow.

    The previous drum kit is reloaded. For this exercise, you are going to use a rock drum kit located in the Legacy folder.

  15. In the Library, select 04 Logic Legacy Kits, then Rock Kit.

    Logic Express

    Close the current project, and open Logic 8_Files > Lessons > 06 Programming Drums, where Ultrabeat is preloaded with that Rock Kit.

    Logic Express

    A Progress window pops up, showing samples loading into RAM. Drum kits using a lot of samples can take a while to load, so wait until the Progress window disappears.

    Logic Express

    When the name of the drum kit (Rock Kit) appears in the plug-in window’s title bar and on the track header, the kit is loaded and you can preview its drum sounds.

Using the Step Sequencer

You can use the step sequencer at the bottom of the Ultrabeat interface to program or edit patterns. In Ultrabeat, you can save up to 24 patterns with each drum kit. Most factory settings include some pre-recorded patterns, so let’s listen to one and see what it sounds like.

  1. At the upper left of the step sequencer, click the power button.

    Using the Step Sequencer

    The power button icon turns blue and the step sequencer becomes active.

  2. Click the Play button next to the power button.

    Using the Step Sequencer

    The Play button turns into a green Stop button. The step sequencer starts and you can hear the first pattern. The notes on the keyboard in the Assignment section are highlighted as the sounds are played.

    Ultrabeat’s step sequencer is synchronized to the project and its tempo. To toggle the step sequencer playback on and off, you can also press the Spacebar to toggle the project playback, and the step sequencer will follow. Don’t hesitate to leave playback on for the rest of this exercise, or to toggle it on and off frequently to listen to your results. If you choose to play the project, the playback will eventually stop when the playhead reaches the end of the project. When this happens, go to the beginning and start playback again.

  3. In the Assignment section, click Hi-Hat Half (sound 09).

    Using the Step Sequencer

    Hi-Hat Half is selected and the step sequencer updates to show you the hi-hat sequence. Seeing the sequence of a single drum sound at a time can be useful for precise editing, but does not give you an overview of the whole pattern.

  4. At the lower right of the step sequencer, click the Full View button.

    Using the Step Sequencer

    Now you can see the sequences for each sound directly across from the Assignment section. You can click anywhere on the grid to insert a new note.

  5. Click step 1 on the Crash lane (sound 14).

    Using the Step Sequencer

    A blue square is highlighted where you clicked, indicating that a crash cymbal is added on the first downbeat of the pattern. In the full-view grid, notice that downbeats are indicated by white vertical grid lines (on steps 1, 5, 9, 13, and so on).

    You can also click an existing note to delete it.

  6. On the Kick lane (sound 01), click the blue square on step 11.

    Using the Step Sequencer

    The kick note is deleted.

    You can access the setting’s patterns in the Pattern menu at the lower left of the step sequencer.

  7. Click the Pattern menu and scroll all the way down so you can see the entire menu.

    Using the Step Sequencer

    The menu lists 24 available patterns. The sq indicates that a sequence is programmed for that pattern. For the Rock Kit, patterns 1 through 9 already have a programmed sequence, while 10 through 24 do not.

    More Info

    Ultrabeat also has a Pattern mode that allows you to switch patterns in real time using a MIDI keyboard. The MIDI note in parentheses indicates the note that triggers each pattern when pattern mode is on.

    More Info
  8. Choose pattern 1 and click Play.

    You can hear pattern 1 and see it displayed in Ultrabeat’s full-view step sequencer. You can choose from the Pattern menu to preview other patterns while the step sequencer is playing.

  9. Choose pattern 2.

    The step sequencer instantly updates to display pattern 2, and you can hear the pattern.

  10. Stop playback.

Programming a Pattern

You are now ready to program your own pattern. You need to choose an empty Pattern from the Pattern menu so you can build your own groove from scratch.

  1. From the Pattern menu, choose pattern 10.

    The grid is empty and ready for a new pattern. In the menus to the right of the pattern menu, you can set the number of steps in the pattern and the step resolution. For now, you should keep the default settings: 32 steps with a sixteenth-note resolution, to create a two-bar pattern.

    Programming a Pattern
  2. On the Kick lane (sound 01), click step 1.

    Programming a Pattern

    A kick note is added to the full-view grid. Since the kick sound is highlighted in the Assignment section, the step sequencer displays the kick sequence, and a blue vertical bar also appears on step 1 in the velocity/gate row. A blue square is also highlighted in the trigger row.

    Tip

    Drag the mouse pointer in the trigger row to quickly add notes on every step, or to delete several existing notes at a time.

  3. Continue entering kick notes every other beat (on steps 9, 17, and 25).

    Tip

    The step sequencer displays the entire kick sequence. Remember to regularly press the Spacebar to listen to the pattern as you build it. You can even choose to play the pattern continuously as you build it.

  4. On the Snare lane (sound 03), click step 5.

    Tip

    The snare sound is selected in the Assignment section, and the step sequencer displays the snare sequence, with the snare you just entered in step 5.

  5. Continue entering snare notes every other beat (on steps 13, 21, and 29).

    Tip
  6. Control-click anywhere in the Hi-Hat Open lane (sound 11).

    Tip

    A shortcut menu opens.

    Tip

    Logic includes a number of shortcut menus that can be accessed by Control-clicking (or right-clicking) in various parts of the interface. When you are looking for a function, try Control-clicking!

  7. From the shortcut menu, choose Add Every Downbeat.

    Tip

    Open hi-hat notes are inserted on every downbeat (indicated by the white vertical grid lines).

  8. Control-click the Hi-Hat Half lane (sound 09) and choose Add Every Upbeat.

    Tip

    Half-open hi-hat notes are inserted on every upbeat, between every open hi-hat note.

    Often drummers will open the last hi-hat of a pattern to lead back into the first downbeat of the next pattern. Let’s do just that!

  9. Click the Hi-Hat Half lane (sound 09) on step 31.

    Tip

    The last half-open hi-hat is deleted.

  10. Click the Hi-Hat Open lane (sound 11) on step 31.

    Tip

    The last hi-hat note is now an open hi-hat.

Editing Velocities and Accents

At this point, you have a basic rock pattern going. It sounds OK, but a little mechanical. You can make it more exciting. Editing note velocities allows you to add variations in dynamics and make the sequence sound more human. You can also accomplish this using several randomization options available in a shortcut menu.

In the following exercise, you will insert a couple of softer kick notes, add accents to the hi-hat, and subtly randomize their velocities.

  1. In the Kick lane (sound 01), click step 11 to add a new Kick at that step.

    In the velocity/gate row, the blue bar’s height represents the velocity of a note. The blue bar’s width represents the length (or gate time) of a note.

  2. In the velocity/gate row, drag down the top left of the new kick’s vertical bar until the help tag reads Velo: 60.

    More Info

    Dragging a note’s vertical bar horizontally adjusts the note length (or gate time), which only affects gated sounds.

    More Info

    The new kick note on step 11 sounds a little softer than the others.

    You can also create notes and adjust their velocity and gate time in one operation by dragging directly in the velocity/gate row.

  3. In the velocity/gate row, hold down the mouse on step 27 to create a Kick note, drag vertically to adjust the velocity to 60, and drag horizontally to adjust the gate time to 4.

    More Info

    Now let’s work with accents. Accents can emphasize specific steps by raising the volume of multiple sounds in the kit. Whereas changing the velocity of a note can change the sound sample that it triggers, adding an accent only changes the volume of the sound.

    At the top of the step sequencer, just above the trigger row, is a row of LEDs where you can select steps to accent. The Accent slider to the left adjusts the volume increase of the accents in decibels (dB). Although the selected steps and the slider settings are the same for all the sounds in the drum kit, the accent switch (the blue LED to the right of the Accent slider) lets you toggle the accents on and off for each drum sound.

    More Info
  4. In the accent row, click steps 1 and 17, and start playback, if necessary.

    More Info

    Listen to your pattern. Both the kick and the open hi-hat are accented on the first downbeat of each bar. The effect sounds good on the hi-hat, but not so good on the kick. Since the Kick lane is still selected, the step sequencer currently displays the kick sound parameters.

  5. In front of the accent row, click the accent switch.

    More Info

    The kick is no longer accented, but the hi-hat is. The accent on the hi-hat is still a little too strong.

  6. Drag the Accent slider to the left until the help tag reads 4.0dB.

    More Info

    The difference in volume between the accented notes and the normal notes is now a little more subtle and natural.

    Now let’s adjust the velocities of the hi-hat notes and add a little randomness to make the pattern come alive.

  7. In the Assignment section, click the Hi-Hat Half name (sound 09).

    More Info

    The Hi-Hat Half sound is selected and the step sequencer displays its sequence.

  8. Control-click in the velocity/gate row and, from the shortcut menu, choose Alter Vel.

    More Info

    The velocities of all half-open hi-hat notes are randomly offset by a small amount.

    More Info

    Listen to the effect, and if the randomization is too subtle for your taste, repeat the procedure. If you went too far and velocity variations sound too drastic, you can reset all note velocities to their default values.

  9. Click the Reset button to the left of the sequence.

    More Info

    All the half-open hi-hat notes are reset to the default velocity of 95.

  10. Repeat the procedure to randomize the velocities of both the half-open hi-hat and the open hi-hat notes.

    Remember that you made the last hi-hat an open one? Drummers like to accent that last open hi-hat to pull the groove back into the first downbeat of the next bar. Raising the velocity of the last hi-hat will accentuate that effect.

  11. In the Assignment section, click the Hi-Hat Open name (sound 11).

  12. In the velocity/gate row, drag the last note (step 31) up to a velocity of 121.

    More Info

    While dragging a note, notice that the velocity changes in increments of 2 or 3. To access every degree of velocity, you have to Shift-drag the note.

  13. Shift-drag the same note to a velocity of 120.

    The last open hi-hat is louder, which helps lead back into the downbeat of the next pattern.

Great job! You have programmed your first drum groove in Ultrabeat. Now you will import that groove as a MIDI region in the Arrange area and use Logic’s MIDI editors to fine-tune the groove and create a snare roll.

Humanizing the Groove in the MIDI Editors

Musicians put many subtle timing and velocity variations in their playing, adding a human feeling to their performance that drum machines lack. If you reproduce those subtle inconsistencies when programming drums, your results will sound closer to a real performance.

In the previous exercises, you altered note velocities in Ultrabeat, helping make the pattern sound more natural. While Ultrabeat’s step sequencer is a powerful tool to program drum patterns, it lacks some of the advanced capabilities of Logic’s other MIDI editors.

In the following exercises, you will import the Ultrabeat pattern to the Arrange window, open it in the Piano Roll Editor to change the feel of the snare, and randomize the timing of the hi-hat using the Transform window.

Dragging the Pattern to the Arrange Area

You can insert the Ultrabeat pattern as a MIDI region in the Arrange area by dragging the button to the left of the Pattern menu in Ultrabeat’s step sequencer. You will then be able to edit the MIDI region in Logic’s MIDI editors.

  1. Go to the beginning of the project.

    You may have to move the Ultrabeat window to the right to see the first few bars of the Arrange area.

  2. In Ultrabeat’s step sequencer, position the mouse cursor on top of the Pattern button.

    Dragging the Pattern to the Arrange Area

    A help tag appears that reads, “Drag to Arrange Window.”

  3. Drag the pattern to bar 1 below the track in the Arrange area.

    Dragging the Pattern to the Arrange Area

    Note

    As you drag the pattern to the Arrange area, a green + icon appears, indicating that you can drop the pattern. You can drag the pattern to a specific track, or drag it below the last track. If you drag the pattern below the last track, it will automatically create the MIDI region on the last track.

    Note

    A MIDI region is created, containing your two-bar drum groove. It is called Ultrabeat.

    You can now turn off Ultrabeat’s step sequencer so it doesn’t play along with the MIDI region on the Rock Kit track.

  4. In Ultrabeat’s step sequencer, click the power button.

    Note

    The step sequencer is turned off and will no longer play along when you play the project.

  5. Close Ultrabeat’s window (or press Command-W).

  6. In the Toolbar, click the Set Locators button.

    Note

    Cycle mode is turned on and the cycle area matches the length of the MIDI region.

  7. At the bottom of the Arrange window, click the Piano Roll button (or press P).

    Note

    The Piano Roll Editor opens and displays the drum groove in the Ultrabeat MIDI region. (You may have to scroll down to see the notes between C1 and C2.)

    Let’s open the Event List to see a detail of all the events in the Ultrabeat MIDI region.

  8. In the Toolbar, click the Lists button (or press E).

    Note

    The Event List opens. If the Event List does not show the contents of the Ultrabeat MIDI region, double-click the Ultrabeat MIDI region. Notice the polyphonic pressure (P-Press) events in the Status column. They turn the volume up and down just before and after the first downbeat of each bar to reproduce the accents you programmed in Ultrabeat.

You can now edit the contents of the MIDI region in both the Piano Roll Editor and the Event List. When editing MIDI data, it is a good idea to keep the Event List open to monitor how individual MIDI events are updated as you edit them in another editor.

With Cycle mode turned on, you will press the Spacebar in all the upcoming exercises to toggle playback on and off. Playback will always start at the beginning of the pattern and will continuously loop until you stop it.

Applying a Laid-Back Feel to the Snare

An interesting characteristic of a human performance is that a drummer never hits all the drums precisely on the time grid.

You can approach the qualities of a human performance by slightly changing the position of certain drum notes, either by dragging them or by using Logic’s humanization functions.

First, you will give the groove a more laid-back feel by delaying the snare notes.

  1. In the Piano Roll Editor, click the D1 key (one white note above C1) on the vertical keyboard.

    Applying a Laid-Back Feel to the Snare

    All D1 MIDI notes (all snare notes) are selected. Note the functional similarity to the Arrange area in which clicking a track header selects all the regions on that track.

  2. Slowly drag the selection to the right while watching the help tag.

    Applying a Laid-Back Feel to the Snare

    The notes snap to another position. The help tag shows that they are dragged from 1 2 1 1 to 1 2 1 81 (or another value depending on your zoom level). That’s an 80-tick delay.

  3. Press the Spacebar to start playback and listen to the new groove.

    The snare notes are much too late and create a flam with the hi-hat notes. This almost sounds like a very bad human drummer. You need to delay the snare by a smaller amount. By pressing Control-Shift as you drag, you will have access to a higher degree of precision.

  4. Choose Edit > Undo Drag (or press Command-Z).

    The snares return to their original positions.

  5. Hold down the first snare note, then Control-Shift-drag the note to the right.

    Applying a Laid-Back Feel to the Snare

    Snapping is disabled, and you can now drag with tick precision.

  6. Watch the help tag and drag the selection to 1 2 1 8.

    Listen to the groove; the difference is very subtle.

    Note

    If you hear a flange sound on the snare, you probably forgot to turn off Ultrabeat’s step sequencer in the previous exercise. Turn it off now.

    Let’s keep the first snare note where it is and delay the other three a little more.

  7. Shift-click the first snare note.

    Note

    The Shift-clicked note is deselected, and the others remain selected.

    Tip

    When multiple notes are selected, you can Shift-click one of the selected notes to deselect it, while leaving the other notes selected. You can also Shift-click a deselected note to add it to the selection.

  8. Hold down the mouse button on the first selected note, and Control-Shift-drag the selection to 1 4 1 20 to delay the three selected notes by 20 ticks.

    Tip

    The first snare note is now 8 ticks later, and the three remaining snare notes are 20 ticks later.

Your groove already has a more laid-back feel. The difference in feel between the quantized snare and the new, laid-back snare is subtle, so let’s compare the two.

Comparing the Quantized and Laid-Back Patterns

To compare the feel of the original quantized and the laid-back patterns, you are going to toggle the Quantize parameter on and off in the Inspector’s Region Parameter box. In the current pattern, the fastest notes are the eighth notes in the hi-hats. So, eighth note is the quantization value you should choose for the region.

The Region Parameter box displays the parameters of the selected region, so make sure that the Ultrabeat region is selected. The name of the region, Ultrabeat, should appear at the top of the Region Parameter box.

  1. In the Inspector’s Region Parameter box, set the Ultrabeat’s region Quantize parameter to 1/8-Note.

    Comparing the Quantized and Laid-Back Patterns

    In the Piano Roll Editor, all four snare notes snap to the grid.

  2. Press the Spacebar to start playback, if necessary.

    You are listening to the rigid groove, with the snare sounding right on the grid.

  3. Choose Edit > Undo Parameter Change (or press Command-Z).

    The Quantize parameter turns off, and the snare notes jump off the grid. You now are listening to the laid-back groove you created.

  4. Choose Edit > Redo Parameter Change (or press Shift-Command-Z).

    The Quantize parameter returns to 1/8-Note.

    Keep pressing the Undo and Redo key commands to switch the quantization off and on while listening to the playback. Remember, because the last thing you did with your mouse was to turn the quantization on (by choosing the 1/8-Note value), the keys behave like this:

    • Undo (Command-Z): The Quantize parameter turns off quantization (and plays the laid-back groove)

    • Redo (Shift-Command-Z): The Quantize parameter turns on 1/8-Note quantization (and plays the quantized groove)

    The difference is subtle, so focus your attention on the timing of the snare. After a while the laid-back groove almost sounds normal, while the rigid groove sounds rushed!

    If you still can’t hear the difference, you can try dragging the snare notes further off the grid to make the effect more obvious. You can also turn on the metronome to listen to the snare against the metronome click.

  5. In the Transport bar, click the Metronome button.

    Note

    On smaller displays, the Metronome button may not be visible. To access it, click the chevron (>>) in the Transport bar and select Click from the pop-up menu.

    Note
  6. Set Quantize to 1/8-Note.

    You are listening to the rigid groove, and the snare plays precisely on the grid, as do the metronome clicks. In fact, the snare sound overlaps the sound of the metronome, and it almost sounds like the metronome is not playing when the snare is playing.

  7. Set Quantize to Off.

    You are listening to the laid-back groove, and the snare is a little off the grid. If you focus your attention on the metronome and the snare, you can hear them flam; that is, they hit almost, but not quite, at the same time.

    While the difference is subtle, this is the kind of detail that can breathe life into drum programming, so experiment with different amounts of delay for the snare until you get the feel you want.

Randomizing Timing

Now let’s humanize the hi-hat. This time you will use Logic’s Humanize function to randomize the position of the hi-hat notes by a small amount.

  1. In the Piano Roll Editor, click the black key in front of the half-open hi-hat notes.

    Randomizing Timing

    All half-open hi-hat notes are selected in that lane.

  2. Shift-click the black key in front of the open hi-hats.

    Randomizing Timing

    All open hi-hat notes in that lane are added to the selection.

  3. In the Piano Roll Editor’s local menu bar, choose Functions > Transform > Humanize.

    Randomizing Timing

    The Transform window opens with the Humanize preset selected.

    Randomizing Timing

    In the Transform window, you can select MIDI events based on a set of conditions (in the “Select Events by Conditions” area), and then transform those MIDI events (according to operations defined in the “Operations on Selected Events” area).

    You then execute your choices by clicking one of the three buttons at the bottom of the window:

    • Select Only (executing the settings in Select Events by Conditions)

    • Operate Only (executing the settings in Operations on Selected Events)

    • Select and Operate (executing both sets of settings)

    In this case, you’ve already selected the hi-hat notes in the Piano Roll Editor, and all you need to do is randomize their positions, so you will later click the Operate Only button. But first, look at the Operations on Selected Events area in the Humanize preset. From left to right, you can see that the operations are:

    • Randomize the positions of notes by ±10 ticks.

    • Randomize their velocities by ±10 values.

    • Randomize their lengths by ±10 ticks.

    In this case, you want to randomize only the positions of the hi-hat notes, leaving their velocities and lengths unchanged.

  4. Click the Velocity pop-up menu and choose Thru.

    Randomizing Timing

    The menu disappears, indicating that no operation will be carried out on the note velocity.

    Note

    At the bottom of the Transform window, the Operation on Byte 2 graphic map area also disappears. The map area can be used to exercise advanced control over the operation carried out on MIDI events.

  5. Click the Length pop-up menu and choose Thru.

    That menu also disappears.

    Note

    The only remaining operation is randomizing the note positions by ±10 ticks, which is what you wanted.

  6. At the bottom of the Transform window, click Operate Only.

    Note

    The selected hi-hat note positions are randomized and you can see them jump slightly off the grid in the Piano Roll Editor. You can also see the positions being altered randomly in the Event List.

    Listen to the hi-hat. Since the operation is random, you may or may not hear or like it!

  7. Keep playing the song and, in the Transform window, click Operate Only a few times, listening to the results each time you click.

    Every time you click Operate Only, the hi-hat note positions are randomized again. Don’t hesitate to click Operate Only quite a few times to really hear the effect. If it starts to sound like sloppy drumming, you can always undo the randomization.

  8. Choose Edit > Undo Transform (or press Command-Z).

    The most recent randomization is undone. You can keep pressing Command-Z to undo more randomization operations, going back in the history of randomization steps.

  9. When you’re happy with the results, close the Transform window.

  10. In the Piano Roll Editor, click the background to deselect all the notes.

    This step is important for the next exercise, so make sure that all notes are deselected before you move on.

Now you really have a good rock drum groove going. With careful manipulation of accents, note velocities, note placements, and a little randomization, you have transformed machinelike drum programming into a human-sounding groove.

Creating a Snare Roll Using the Hyper Editor

In the previous lesson, you used the Hyper Editor to draw and edit MIDI CC pan events. You can also use the Hyper Editor to create and edit MIDI note events. Its ability to adjust grid resolution independently for each lane makes the Hyper Editor a great choice for drum programming.

The Hyper Editor allows you to quickly enter many MIDI events at once, drawing them on the grid using the Pencil tool. This makes it easy to quickly draw a snare roll.

Creating a Custom Hyper Set

When you’re programming a basic drum pattern, creating your own hyper set with just the MIDI notes you need will make the Hyper Editor easier to navigate.

In this exercise, you will create a custom hyper set that includes an event definition for each drum sound used in the pattern. You will then draw a snare roll using the Pencil tool and adjust velocities using the Line tool.

  1. At the bottom of the Piano Roll Editor, click the Hyper Editor button (or press Y).

    Creating a Custom Hyper Set

    The Hyper Editor opens, and the Inspector updates to show you the Hyper Set menu, a couple of checkboxes, and the Event Definition Parameter box, which displays the parameters of the selected event definition lane.

    There are two factory hyper sets in the Hyper Set menu: MIDI Controls, which you used in the previous lesson to add pan automation, and GM Drum Kit, which is used for drum programming.

  2. In the Inspector, click the Hyper Set menu and choose GM Drum Kit.

    Creating a Custom Hyper Set

    The Hyper Editor now shows event definitions for all the MIDI drum notes defined by the GM (General MIDI) standard.

    More Info

    The General MIDI standard defines many MIDI events left undefined in the MIDI standard. For example, it defines which sounds a MIDI note should trigger when playing a drum instrument: C1 is a kick drum, D1 is a snare drum, and so on.

  3. Place the mouse cursor between the Hyper Editor and the Arrange area, and drag up.

    More Info

    The Hyper Editor is resized and you can see more event definitions.

    Scroll vertically to see the whole set of GM drum sounds. When you have numerous event definitions for a variety of drum and percussion sounds that you don’t need, the Hyper Editor can be difficult to navigate. Let’s create a custom hyper set.

  4. In the Inspector, click the Hyper Set menu and choose “Create Hyper Set for Current Events.”

    More Info

    A new hyper set is displayed, called Ultrabeat, the name of the MIDI region. It contains event definitions only for the four drum sounds used in the region, plus an additional event definition, Display off, that corresponds to the accents used earlier in Ultrabeat (the polyphonic pressure events seen in the Event List).

    To tidy up the display, you can delete the accent lane, then reorder and name the drum lanes.

  5. Click the header of the “Display off” lane.

    More Info

    The lane is selected.

  6. Choose Hyper > Delete Event Definition (or press Control-Delete).

    The event definition is deleted from the hyper set. The accents events are not deleted from the MIDI region, and they remain visible in the Event List.

    Now that you are working with a stripped-down hyper set, zoom in so the four lanes fill the Hyper Editor display.

  7. Click the first A#1 note.

    More Info

    The open hi-hat note is played, and the A#1 lane is selected. You can click the notes to trigger the sounds and determine which lane corresponds to which instrument, then rename the event definition. Even without clicking the notes, you should be able to visually identify the instruments by remembering their positions on the grid: the open hi-hat plays on every downbeat, the half-open hi-hat on every upbeat.

  8. In the Inspector’s Event Definition Parameter box, click A#1.

    More Info

    A text field opens, and you can rename the event definition.

  9. In the text field, type Open HH.

  10. Use the same techniques to rename:

    • G#1 to Half HH

    • C1 to Kick

    • D1 to Snare

    You can drag the Kick lane to the bottom of the Hyper Editor so the drums are in the same order as they are in Ultrabeat’s step sequencer.

  11. Drag the Kick event definition to the bottom of the window, below the snare.

    More Info

    This new custom hyper set is much cleaner looking. You have event definitions only for the four current drum sounds. With the event definitions renamed and reordered, you can tell at a glance which drum sound you are editing.

Drawing a Snare Roll

Now you’re ready to draw that snare roll. First, you’ll adjust the grid resolution of the snare lane and add a single snare note in the first bar. Then you will draw the snare roll at the end of the second bar.

In the Hyper Editor, the Pencil tool is assigned to the Command-click tool.

  1. In the Snare lane, Command-click the grid line just before the second kick.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    As in Ultrabeat’s step sequencer, the height of the note represents its velocity. When using the Pencil tool, click higher to insert louder notes, or click lower to insert softer notes. You can also drag up and down with the Pencil tool to adjust the velocity of the note as you insert it, and drag with the Pencil or Pointer tool to adjust the velocity of an existing note.

    Listen to the pattern. Let’s make that snare softer than the other snares.

  2. Drag down the new snare note to a lower velocity.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    Listen to the pattern. Sounds good.

    Drummers don’t usually hit the hi-hat in the middle of a snare roll; so, before you add the snare roll at the end of the pattern, you will delete the last hi-hat note.

  3. On the Open HH lane, click the last open hi-hat note to select it.

    Drawing a Snare Roll
  4. Press Delete.

    The selected open hi-hat note is deleted.

    You’re ready to draw a snare roll at the end of the pattern. You first need to increase the resolution of the snare event definition grid so you can draw the fast snare roll.

  5. Select the Snare lane.

  6. In the Event Definition Parameter box, set the Grid parameter to 1/48-Note.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    The higher-resolution grid is displayed on the Snare lane.

    You will now adjust the pen width on the snare lane to make the vertical bars representing the snare notes visually narrower, making it easier to see each step on the finer grid resolution.

  7. Set the Pen Width parameter to 2.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    The vertical bars on the snare lane are now narrower, and you can see all the grid lines. In the Event List, note that the MIDI events represented by the vertical bars are unchanged, and the snare notes still have the same length.

    You should shorten the new snare note lengths so that the notes don’t overlap when you look at them later in the Piano Roll Editor.

  8. Double-click the Length parameter and enter 20 to change the note length to 20 ticks.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    Now you can draw the snare roll.

  9. Zoom in on the area after the last snare.

    Drawing a Snare Roll
  10. After the last snare, drag the Pencil tool to draw the snare roll, ending the roll just before the end of the region (indicated in the bar ruler by the cycle area).

    You can adjust the vertical position of the Pencil tool as you drag it to create notes of different velocities and generate decrescendos and crescendos.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    You can now use the Line tool to create a perfect crescendo.

  11. Press Esc and choose the Line tool.

  12. Hold down the Line tool and place it just before the first note in the snare roll, watching the help tag to ensure that the velocity is at 35.

    Drawing a Snare Roll
  13. Release the mouse button, and position the cursor just after the last note of the snare roll, so that the velocity reads 100 in the help tag.

    Drawing a Snare Roll
  14. Click to end the line.

    The note heights are adjusted to the green line, forming a perfect crescendo.

    Listen to the pattern. The snare roll is a little loud. Scroll to the end of the pattern to examine the snare roll. All the notes from the roll are still selected. You will lower the velocities of the whole selection using the Pointer tool.

  15. Press Esc twice.

  16. Drag the last note down to a velocity of 79.

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    The velocities of all the selected notes are lowered. Listen to the drum pattern. If the snare roll starts a little too early, you can delete the first few notes of the snare roll.

  17. Click in the background of the Hyper Editor to deselect all the notes.

  18. Shift-drag the Pencil tool over the first couple of notes you want to delete to select them.

    Drawing a Snare Roll
  19. Press Delete.

  20. In the Arrange area, make sure the Ultrabeat region is still selected, and at the bottom of the editing area, click the Piano Roll button (or press P).

    Drawing a Snare Roll

    You can see the snare roll on the right. Imagine creating the snare roll in the Piano Roll Editor, one note at a time, and you will understand how powerful the Hyper Editor can be for that kind of job.

    With the snare roll still selected, take a couple of minutes to open the Transform window’s Humanize preset and randomize the velocities and the positions of the selected snare notes to humanize the snare roll.

Programming drums is a skill that requires you to use your ears, not just to create the pattern, but also to add the little nuances that make the difference between a machinelike drum pattern and a drum pattern that will fool the listeners into thinking a real drummer performed the part. Listen to live drummers, or recordings of live drummers, and focus on the dynamic variations, the use of accents to create the groove, and the timing of the snare and hi-hat. Then, use the tools and techniques you have learned in this lesson to incorporate those dynamic and timing subtleties into your drum programming.

Lesson Review

1.

Name the three main sections of the Ultrabeat interface.

2.

In Ultrabeat, what sounds are triggered by which MIDI notes?

3.

How do you insert a note on every downbeat?

4.

How can you add accents to a pattern?

5.

How can you add accents at different positions for different drum sounds?

6.

In Ultrabeat, how can you randomize a sound’s note velocities?

7.

How can you view an Ultrabeat pattern as a MIDI region in the Arrange area?

8.

In the Piano Roll Editor, how can you deselect a single note from a multiple note selection?

9.

In what window do you randomize note positions, and how can you open that window?

10.

What editor is the best choice for creating a snare roll?

11.

How do you create a custom hyper set containing event definitions only for the existing notes in the region?

Answers

1.

The Assignment section, the Synthesiszer section, and the step sequencer.

2.

Notes C1 through B2 play the 24 drum sounds; C3 and above play the bass sound chromatically.

3.

Control-click the full view grid, and choose Add Every Downbeat from the shortcut menu.

4.

By selecting steps in the accent row.

5.

You can’t. Accent positions are the same for all sounds. You can turn the accents on and off for individual sounds using the accent switch.

6.

Control-click the step sequencer and, from the shortcut menu, choose Alter Vel.

7.

Drag the Pattern button to the Arrange area.

8.

Shift-click the note you want to deselect.

9.

The Transform window. You access it in the Piano Roll Editor’s local menu bar by choosing Functions > Transform > Humanize.

10.

The Hyper Editor.

11.

Make sure that all notes are deselected inside the region and, from the Hyper Set menu, choose Create Hyper Set for Current Events.

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