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Table of Contents Introduction!..................................................................................3 Architecture!.................................................................................4 User Interface!..............................................................................6 Top Section!..................................................................................7 Drum Patch Section!..................................................................11 Pattern Section!......
Introduction INTRODUCTION Welcome to Sonic Charge Microtonic, the synthetic rhythm generator. Microtonic is a VST and AudioUnits compatible plug-in featuring a powerful drum and percussion synthesizer combined with a pattern based drum machine engine. You can use it as a conventional sound module to play drum sounds from your MIDI keyboard or sequencer, or you can use the built-in pattern engine to play drum patterns in sync with your sequencer.
Architecture Sound Synthesizer The sound engine of Microtonic offers eight channels of stereophonic sound (called drum channels or simply channels). Each channel has its own set of parameters that define its sound. Collectively these parameter settings constitute a drum patch. You work with one channel at a time and you can load and save drum patches individually. (The file extension for a drum patch file is “.
The Rate at which the patterns run is set globally for all patterns in a preset and is relative to the tempo of your host sequencer. The setting goes from 1/8, meaning that each step is one-eighth note in length, up to 1/32. Each step of a pattern also has a Fill option that is used to create rapid drum rolls at a rate of your choice.
morph slider is positioned. If the morph slider is to the far left or right, only the left or right end-points are affected. If the morph is centered, both end-points will change by an equal amount. Morph can be controlled with MIDI and automated, allowing you to use it both for performance (e.g. for dramatic build-ups) and for editing (e.g. exploring semi-random parameter settings). Programs The morph data, all patterns and global parameters together constitutes a Program.
Menus At the far left of each section, you will find a number of buttons for performing various functions. The buttons marked with down-pointing arrows are menu buttons; menus concerning the relevant sections will pull down when you click on these. As a shortcut, you may right-click anywhere in the main window (or control-click on Mac) to display a context menu. The context menus contain items that are relevant to the section or controller you click on.
Program Display There are 16 program slots available in Microtonic. Clicking the program display will open up a pop-up menu where you can select which of the 16 slots you want to activate. There are also options for enabling MIDI Program Change messages as well as Write Protecting all programs. By write protecting the programs, any edits you make will be lost as soon as you switch to another program. (This can be handy in live performance situations.
‣ Undo / Redo These choices undoes or redoes recent changes you have made. The “undo history” remembers up to 40 changes, but the history will be cleared every time you close the editor window. To conveniently undo or redo more than one step, use the Repeat Last Menu feature. ‣ Open Preset Choose Open Preset to bring up an “open dialog” that lets you load a Microtonic preset file (file extension “.mtpreset” or “.mtpg”).
create musically interesting results (with an emphasis on the word “interesting”, as in experimental, not necessarily musically pleasing). To test various random results, use the Repeat Last Menu feature. ‣ Edit MIDI Controllers / Keys This menu toggles the on-screen editing of MIDI keys and controllers mapping. See MIDI Controllers And Keys for a description on how this works. ‣ MIDI Config This menu item opens the MIDI config dialog described below in MIDI Config Dialog.
pattern engine will not generate MIDI notes for muted channels. Muted channels are indicated by a red light. Holding down the Control Key (Alt or Command key on Mac) when clicking a mute button will solo that channel by muting all other channels, unless it is already soloed in which case it will be “un-soloed” by “un-muting” all channels.
‣ Save Drum Patch Brings up a “save dialog” that lets you save the current drum patch parameters (of the selected channel) into a Microtonic drum patch file (file extension “.mtdrum”). ‣ Cut Drum Patch This menu copies the current drum patch parameters (of the selected channel) onto the clipboard and resets the parameters in Microtonic. ‣ Copy Drum Patch This menu copies the current drum patch parameters (of the selected channel) onto the clipboard.
Edit All When Edit All is enabled, turning any knob and dragging any fader will adjust all unmuted drum channels simultaneously. For example, if you turn Distort up 10% then the Distort amount of all (un-muted) channels will be increased by 10%. If you are recording automation in your host, Microtonic will write parameter automation for all affected channels. Mixing Section The mixing section is the leftmost group and the final stage in the audio processing chain.
‣ Equalizer Gain Range: -40db to +40db Default: 0db The equalizer gain setting. A negative gain will cut frequencies from the signal spectrum whereas a positive gain will boost them. When the gain is high, the output level of the channel is automatically attenuated to achieve a more consistent volume. The width of the peak or dip (i.e. the q value) is fixed and cannot be changed. ‣ Level Range: -infinite dB to +10dB Default: 0dB This is the output level of the drum patch.
‣ Oscillator Waveform Choices: Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth Default: Sine The Oscillator Waveform setting defines the basic shape and character of the tone produced by the oscillator. The sine waveform produces an ideal sine tone with no overtones. It is useful for all types of drums, percussions and effects. The triangle waveform produces a soft tone with all odd harmonics (like a “square wave” but with less high frequency content).
a negative amount with the random modulation mode is no different from a positive amount since the random modulator randomizes the pitch totally both upwards and downwards.) ‣ Pitch Modulation Rate Range: depends on modulation mode, decaying: infinite ms down to 10ms, sine: 0Hz to 2 000Hz (2kHz), random: 0Hz to 20 000Hz (20kHz) Default: 353.33ms / 17.78Hz / 100.0Hz The Rate parameter depends on the modulation mode.
for the left and right output channels. This mode creates a dispersed stereo effect similar to the sound of a reverb. Furthermore, the noise section features a multimode filter with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes as well as an amplitude envelope with different shapes allowing you to sculpt the noise just the way that fits your sound.
‣ Noise Envelope Mode Choices: Exponential, Linear, Modulated (clap) Default: Exponential The Oscillator and Noise Section have separate amplitude envelope generators. The envelope generator for the noise section is more advanced and features three different modes (or shapes). The Exponential Mode is the default choice and the most common mode. It creates a natural sounding fade in its decay phase.
note has zero velocity. (A setting of 200% means that MIDI velocities of 64 or more are required for the oscillator to be heard at all.) ‣ Noise Velocity Sensitivity Range: 0% to 200% Default: 0% This parameter decides how MIDI velocities and accents affect the volume of the noise generator. A setting of zero percent means that velocities (and accents) do not affect the volume at all. Higher percentages makes velocities (and accents) affect the volume more.
‣ Cut Pattern / Pattern Channel This function copies the currently selected pattern / pattern channel onto the clipboard and clears the pattern / pattern channel in Microtonic. ‣ Copy Pattern / Pattern Channel This menu choice copies the current pattern / pattern channel onto the clipboard. ‣ Paste Pattern / Pattern Channel Use this menu item to paste patterns or pattern channels from the clipboard. The contents of the clipboard will replace the settings in Microtonic.
comes the last and so on. (This function only reverses material within the designated length of the pattern.) ‣ Alter Pattern / Pattern Channel The Alter Pattern / Pattern Channel function is a handy little feature that shuffles random parts of the pattern around. It may be used to create variations of a pattern. The algorithm works solely on existing material, so altering an empty pattern is meaningless. (Also, this function alters only material within the designated pattern length.
Pattern Selection Group You use this group of 12 buttons to select pattern A to L for playing and editing. A solid blue light indicates the currently chosen pattern. The currently chosen pattern is the pattern that you edit with the Pattern Edit Lanes. If the pattern engine is not currently playing this pattern, it will do so after it has finished playing its current pattern. The pattern that is currently playing is shown by a flashing green light. If a pattern is empty (i.e.
Global Section Stop Button The Stop Button stops and deactivates the internal pattern engine. Similar to the synchronization of pattern changes, the stop is synchronized to the length of patterns. If the Stop Button is blinking, the engine will stop after the currently selected pattern has finished playing. You can force the pattern engine to stop immediately by clicking twice on the stop button. (Starting and stopping patterns may be automated just as pattern changes.
fills decay by a fixed amount to achieve a natural rolling effect. If the step that triggers the roll is accented the MIDI velocity will run from 128 to 64 over the roll, if not it will run from 64 to 0. (The fill rate is set globally for all patterns and channels in a preset.) Master Volume Range: -infinite dB to +10dB Default: 0dB This is the final output volume for the preset. When turned down to its minimum the sound of Microtonic is shut off completely.
Shift Click channel numbers to mute them and Control Click (Command Click on Mac) to solo. Open Preset Dialog The Open Preset Dialog includes a couple of options for previewing the preset within the browser. To preview, either click the Play/Stop Button or simply select Auto to start previewing as soon as you select a new preset in the list. You can preview patterns in their original tempo or synchronized to the host sequencer by selecting In Sync.
Figure 7 Open Drum Patch Dialog Turn on Play Accented to preview the drum patches with accented instead of normal velocity. Use the Preview in Preset if you wish to preview a drum patch in the context of the currently playing pattern or from your MIDI keyboard. Preferences Dialog The Preference Dialog is used to choose configuration settings for Microtonic. You access this dialog from the main menu (see the section Main Menu Button above).
Knob Behavior Mode Here you select the default behavior mode for all knobs of Microtonic. The default option, called Host Decides, makes Microtonic adhere to the current preference of your host sequencer. Circular mode lets you click and drag knobs in a circular manner just like a real hardware knob. Relative Circular mode works like the circular mode but does not immediately turn the knob to the point of the mouse cursor when you click.
Figure 9 MIDI Config Dialog the pitch wheel will affect all channels simultaneously, while in Pitched Mode, it will affect individual channel. Enable MIDI Program Change Enable this option to make Microtonic switch between the 16 program slots when it receives MIDI Program Change messages. Messages with program numbers above 16 will be ignored. Stop voices with MIDI Note Off Turning this option on will make Microtonic mute voices on MIDI Note Off messages.
if you wish to automate parameters with this feature you must also turn on the MIDI controllers generate parameter automation option. (see the section on MIDI Controllers And Keys for more info). Notice that there is no way to distinguish MIDI notes that come from your keyboard from notes that come from MIDI tracks in your host sequencer. Therefore, it may be a good idea to turn this option off before starting sequencer playback.
Pitched MIDI Mode Microtonic features a mode called Pitched MIDI Mode which allows you to play melodies with the drum patches on your keyboard. In this mode, the eight drum channels are addressed with MIDI channels 1 to 8 and you have the entire keyboard for each channel. C3 (note number 60) will play the “original pitch” of the drum patch. If MIDI transmission is enabled, the same channels and notes will be used for transmission.
Finally, if you wish to quickly map a single knob on your hardware controller to a parameter in Microtonic, you do not have to go through all the fuss with entering and leaving the editing mode. Instead, simply right-click the knob or fader, choose Learn MIDI Controller and turn the knob on your MIDI controller. It could not be easier! Notice that the same MIDI key or controller number can be assigned to several different functions.
Computer Keyboard If your host supports the routing of keys to plug-ins, you may use the keyboard to control Microtonic and perform some of the most common functions. This is a list of the relevant keys and their functions. Windows Key(s) Mac Key(s) Function(s) 1 to 8 1 to 8 Press once to select channel one to eight and preview its drum patch. With Control Key: preview accented. With Shift Key: mute (or “un-mute”) channel (may be automated).
• Drum patches that are loaded from factory preset folders are now referenced to with relative file paths meaning that it will be easier to use the drum patch browser to change patches in factory presets. • Signed packages on Mac OS X. • Name of DLL's changed from MicroTonic(Multi)VST.dll to Microtonic(Multi).dll only. Name of plugin is Microtonic from now on, not µTonic or MicroTonic. Logotype is still µTONIC.
automatable and MIDI controllable parameter, so it can be used both as a performance parameter as well as an editing feature. • Matrix editor window for viewing and editing the pattern steps of all eight drum channels simultaneously. (Bonus feature: you can drag channel labels to reorder the drum channels of the preset.) • MIDI Program Change message support for instantaneously switching between up to 16 different presets (loaded into memory). (It is also possible to switch programs with MIDI notes.
• From the file browser you can now select to load only the patches or the patterns from a preset. • All filter algorithms have been replaced with a new custom design based on a modified state-variable topology. It allows exact replication of the original filter response, but with better accuracy, speed and stability when the frequencies are modulated. • Parameter smoothing improved to allow quicker unfiltered parameter changes as well as slower filtered changes.
Bug / Compatibility Fixes • Fixed bug with VST midi events outside the current processing block. • Fixed minor bug in linear noise envelope decay. • Automation now starts directly when you click a fader (instead of waiting until it is dragged). • Improved problem with Microtonic spontaneously losing registration. • Fixed a problem where holes(!) would appear in the user-interface on Mac. • Fixed a problem with the oscilloscope when using the multiple outputs version (in certain hosts).
Version 2.0 (2005-06-20) Major New Features • There is an alternative version of Microtonic with separate outputs for each drum channel ("MicrotonicVSTMulti"). • Microtonic features built-in support for MIDI controllers with easy-to-use onscreen editing and "MIDI learn". A MIDI controller can be assigned to a parameter in a specific drum channel, or if you prefer, to edit the currently selected drum channel. Once you have created your assignments you can save and load them.
the visuals are virtually infinite in resolution as well. (Try dragging some knobs and faders with the shift key down, and boy is that smooth.) • Patterns that are part of the current "pattern chain" are lit in blue color. Empty patterns show up gray. • You can drag and drop presets and drum patch files from the explorer / finder onto Microtonic. • Clicking the drum patch name display will pop up a list with drum patches residing in the same directory for quick loading.
Requirements The minimum requirements for installing and running Microtonic under Microsoft Windows are: • Microsoft Windows XP or later • A host application that supports 32-/64-bit VST 2.4 plug-ins • 2GHz Pentium IV or equivalent • 30MB of free disk space The minimum requirements for installing and running Microtonic under Mac OS X are: • Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later • A host application that supports 32-/64-bit VST 2.4 or AudioUnit 2 plug-ins • 1.
Sonic Charge website: http://soniccharge.
