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Tutorial |
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In the following it is assumed that you are familiar with the basic operations of your computer as well as with the basic functions of the emagic logic sequencer. You should also have a basic knowledge of the MIDI language. The MIDI Signal flow should be as follows: Controller (Keyboard etc.) (sending on MIDI Channel 1) >> MIDI Faderbox (sending on MIDI Channel and letting the MIDI data of the keyboard thru) >> MIDI Interface >> Computer >> logic >> Computer >> MIDI Interface >> Synth expander (receiving on MIDI Cannel 1). Load the program emagic logic. Load the song ”Variator“ into emagic logic . The window should look similar like this: |
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Make sure that at the beginning of this tutorial the faders on the computerscreen are approximately in the middle between minimum and maximum as shown in the picture. Press ”play“ in the transport window.
Then move the mouse to the key on the vertical keyboard labelled ”Brazil“ and press. You should now hear some sounds coming out of your synth. It is recommended to use a sound like a drumset or a piano sound first. The sequence is prepared in that way that it will loop as a 4 bar pattern, until either the same key is pressed again or a different key of the vertical keyboard is pressed. In either case the actual sequence will be replaced by the sequence that is linked to this key. If you press the same key (”Brazil“) the sequence will start again on the next quarter of the beat. If you press a different key, e.g. ”Jungle“, the Jungle sequence will start on the next quarter of the beat. The name of the actual running sequence is shown in the ”SequenceMon(itor)” window. If you press B3 (”Stop“), the actual sequence will be stopped. Nevertheless the sequencer itself will continue, which is important in the case that you have other squences or tracks running (if you have the full version, for example). Now you can move the faders labelled ”Dens“ or ”Vel“ or ”FunctionGen“ or ”Transps“ with the mouse and listen to the changes. The fader labelled ”Dens“ controls the density of the MIDI notes in time. You have the choice of 16 different settings. The higher the fader, the more notes. The fader labelled ” Vel” adds or subtracts up to 64 to the original velocity value of the notes. The lowest value possible is of course 1, as velocity=0 means MIDI Note-off. The ”Transps” fader transposes the outgoing notes in the range of up to 36 semitones up and down. The lowest value of the transpose fader transposes down 127 semitones . In this case all notes are muted which is a handy feature if you control Variator by a MIDI faderbox. Finally there is the box labelled ”FunctionGen“. The Function generator transforms the pitch of the MIDI notes in a nonlinear way. In this version there are 8 different settings to chose from, whereby ”thru“ means that the notes are not changed. |
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Using external controllers |
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So long you have operated VARIATOR with the mouse. If you have a setup similar to that described above you should now play C3 on your keyboard or similar controller . You should hear the same effect as pressing the mouse on the key ”Jungle“. If you play other notes of the same octave you should hear the othe sequences alternatively. If you use a MIDI faderbox it should be set up in the following way: All faders should send continuous controller (CC) on MIDI channel 1. Variator reacts to CC 1 (ModWheel) , CC2 (Breath), CC3 and CC4 (Foot Control). If you move the faders on you faderbox the faders on the screen should respond and follow the movements.
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Importing other sequences |
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If you want to use own sequences in similar way, do the following: Chose a sequence from a different song , copy the sequence and paste it into the track1 labelled ”Orx1“. This new seqence must not contain any other data than MIDI Notes, because other data, e.g. pressure or pitchwheel will be filtered out anyway. The MIDI notes must be on MIDI channel 1. Make sure that track 1 is muted and that the sequence is not muted. In this tutorial a sequence called ”NuSeq“ is already pasted into track 1. On your computer keyboard press the key ”5”. This will open a different window. It should look like this: |
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In the arrange area you see the ”NuSeq“. Drag the sequence to a key of your choice in keyboard labelled ”TTracks“ . For this tutorial key ”F” is recommended. If you double-click in the appropriate key (F3) of the MappedInstrument keyboard a window will open and you can enter the name of the sequence here . If you have finished press ”1“ on your computer keyboard and you will be led to the initial screenset. Now you press F3 you should hear the ”NuSeq”. If you move the faders you will hear the changes with the exception of the ”Dens“ fader. This has to do with the way Variator changes the note density. To achieve the effect that notes that are of the same pitch and velocity can be muted or left unmutetd, they are distinguished by their MIDI channel. If you look at the ”NuSeq“ in logic`s event editor you will realize that ”Nu Seq“ contains only notes on MIDI channel 1 . If you want your own sequences to respond to the ”Dens“ fader you have to change the MIDI channels of the notes appropiately: This has already been done in the sequence ”NuSeqDens“ which is located right of ”Nu Seq“ on track 1. You can link this sequence in the same way to a key as done with ”NuSeq“. In the event editor you can see that ”NuSeqDens“ contains the same pitches as”NuSeq”, but on different Channels. The full version of Variator comes with a whole bunch of such sequences. |
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Record |
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As you might have found out during the first tests it is possible to transform quite simple patterns into something interesting just by playing with different parameter settings. So in the arrnge window there is a second track called ”Sequence“. You can record all the notes that go to your synth module here for further processing or arranging.
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<<< back |
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