USER’S MANUAL
PROGRAMMING: Mark Xiaomai Robert Bocquier INDUSTRIALIZATION: Nicolas Dubois MANUAL: Robert Bocquier Glen Darcey Tomoya Fukushi Randy Lee Jérôme Parrod DESIGN: Glen Darcey Axel Hartmann Morgan Perrier © ARTURIA SA – 2013-2014 – All rights reserved. 30, Chemin du Vieux Chêne 38240 Meylan FRANCE http://www.arturia.com Information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Arturia.
Thank you for purchasing the Arturia BeatStep! This manual covers the features and operation of Arturia’s BeatStep, a full-featured pad/knob controller and analog-style step sequencer. In this package you will find: One BeatStep controller One USB cable One MIDI adapter cable The Quick Start Guide for BeatStep. This document has a sticker on the inside of its front cover providing the serial number and registration code you will need in order to register your BeatStep.
Special Message Section SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE: The information contained in this manual is believed to be correct at the time of printing. However, Arturia reserves the right to change or modify any of the specifications without notice or obligation to update the hardware that has been purchased. IMPORTANT: The product and its software, when used in combination with an amplifier, headphones or speakers, may be able to produce sound levels that could cause permanent hearing loss.
Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 7 2 BEATSTEP OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.1 FIRST STEP: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS ................................................................................................. 8 2.1.1 Using BeatStep with a Computer ..............
5.5.1 Step Size ........................................................................................................................................ 24 5.5.2 Pattern Length .............................................................................................................................. 24 5.6 TEMPLATE MANAGEMENT: SAVE, DELETE, IMPORT, EXPORT, ETC. ....................................................... 25 5.7 THE SEQUENCE WINDOW ..............................................................
1 INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the Arturia BeatStep! BeatStep is a combination pad/encoder controller and analog-style step sequencer with an unlimited number of potential uses and setup options, thanks to its simultaneous USB, MIDI, and CV/Gate connection capabilities. We’ll give you some useful examples here in this manual and then turn you loose to start experimenting with BeatStep.
2 BEATSTEP OVERVIEW 2.1 First step: Making the connections There are a number of ways to connect BeatStep with other types of equipment. Below are examples of potential setups: 2.1.1 Using BeatStep with a Computer BeatStep is a USB class-compliant controller, so at its most basic level it can be connected to any computer with a USB port and used as an input device for various applications.
2.1.3 Using BeatStep with an iPad® Add a camera connection kit and BeatStep becomes an input device for an iPad. This enables it to be used as a controller for Arturia’s iMini or iSem applications, for example. If you have an iPad but you don’t already own these applications, you will want to buy them! They are very affordable, and live up to Arturia’s reputation for lovingly and faithfully recreating the experience of these classic synthesizers.
2.2 Front panel overview 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Level/Rate/Transpose encoder Encoders Pads Transport Controls Mode buttons RECALL/STORE buttons SHIFT button CHAN button (see (see (see (see (see (see (see (see 2.2.1) 2.2.2) 2.2.3) 2.2.4) 2.2.5) 2.2.6) 2.2.7) 2.2.8) A word about Modes There are two main functions of the 17 encoders and 16 pads on BeatStep’s top panel depending on the mode you have selected: Controller (CNTRL) or Sequencer (SEQ).
• In SEQ mode they will edit the note for the corresponding step in a sequence. 2.2.3 Pads The Mode also determines the function of the 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads: • In CNTRL mode they are assignable to almost any MIDI-related function • In SEQ mode they enable or disable sequence steps. Used with the SHIFT button they set the playback mode, timing value, input scale, and sequence length. 2.2.
2.3 Side panel overview 2.3.1 Gate/CV outputs These are normally used together to send electrical signals to an external device such as Arturia’s powerhouse monophonic analog synthesizers (MiniBrute and MicroBrute) or to a classic modular analog synthesizer. 2.3.2 MIDI connection Use the included MIDI adapter to send control signals of all sorts to external MIDIcompatible devices. Each of BeatStep’s encoders and pads can be configured independently to send specific MIDI data. 2.3.
3 BASIC BEATSTEP OPERATIONS 3.1 The Default Preset Each of the presets and sequences starts out with default, “blank slate” settings so you will have a consistent starting point for your creativity.
3.2 Recalling a Preset or Sequence It’s easy to select different Presets or sequences. The process is the same in either CNTRL mode or SEQ mode: simply hold the RECALL button and press one of the pads. While in CNTRL mode, holding the RECALL button and pressing Pad 2 will select Preset #2 from the BeatStep preset memory locations. This will change the CNTRL preset while leaving the same sequence in the BeatStep edit buffer. To switch from Preset #2 to Preset #1, hold RECALL again and press Pad 1 instead.
3.4 Changing the Global MIDI Channel Switching between MIDI Channels is a very quick way to select which instrument and/or track you are controlling in your DAW software. This is accomplished by using a combination of the CHAN button and one of the BeatStep pads. For example, if you want to switch the Global MIDI channel from channel 1 to channel 2, hold the CHAN button and press pad #2: Then when it’s time to switch back to channel 1, just hold the CHAN button and press pad #1 instead.
4 MIDI CONTROL CENTER The MIDI Control Center is a separate utility you can use to configure the MIDI settings of your BeatStep. This is especially important if you want to make the most of the potential relationship between BeatStep and non-Arturia plugins and DAWs. The MIDI Control Center works with most of Arturia’s devices, so if you already have the software you’ll want the BeatStep version. It will work with those products as well. 4.
4.4 The Sync button The first thing to do each time you launch the MIDI Control Center software is click the Sync button: This will connect BeatStep to your computer and grab whatever is in the BeatStep BeatStep edit buffers (both CNTRL and SEQ modes), giving it the current date/time stamp for a name. You can rename this file if you like. After this, every change made in the software will also be made inside BeatStep.
5 EDITING THE BEATSTEP CONTROLLER SETTINGS 5.1 Creating MIDI Presets with the MIDI Control Center 5.1.1 Overview: What is a BeatStep Preset? The MIDI Control Center software makes it easy to configure the BeatStep controllers to work with practically any device or software capable of responding to MIDI information. In addition, you can program a BeatStep sequence using the MIDI Control Center to edit the sequencer values.
These settings will allow you to send two different values of a particular MIDI CC number each time you press the pad. There are a couple of MIDI CC numbers that have been assigned the task of controlling filter brightness (CC# 74) or harmonic content (CC# 71). We’ll use CC# 74 for this example.
5.1.3 Assign an Encoder to control a MIDI CC # between two values The encoders are assignable using the same techniques described for the pads. Let’s give a quick example of an interesting use: setting the rate of an LFO so it operates only within a certain range. … Looking at the pictures above we see familiar information: • Knob 5 has been selected, so it is shown in red. • It is assigned to the Global MIDI channel; you can specify any MIDI channel from 1-16 or leave it on the Global channel.
5.2.1 Store the new settings to a BeatStep Preset As we’ve gone through section 5.1 we’ve set up a pad to toggle filter settings and instructed one of the encoders to control the vibrato rate. There’s a lot more BeatStep can do, but that’s a great start. Next we need to make sure this configuration is available when you want it. To do that you must save these settings as a group to the internal memory BeatStep has available. The upper left-hand section of the MIDI Control Center has a button called “Store”.
Important: When you hover the cursor over the MCC Recall button and you will see both a description and a warning. It is telling you that when you recall the selected Memory it will replace the current contents of the MIDI Control Center Working Memory and the BeatStep edit buffer at the same time. Be careful not to lose a preset or sequence you’ve been working on. Store it somewhere first, if you need to! 5.2.
5.3.3 Knob Acceleration With this parameter you are able to try three different response curves for the encoders and see which one works best for you: • Slow (Off): no acceleration; the encoders will transmit every allowable value. The result is that it takes more turns of the encoders to move from minimum to maximum. This is a necessary tradeoff when greater precision is desired. • Medium: moderate acceleration; when turned quickly the encoders will skip a few values.
5.4.3 Pattern Mode Use this parameter to decide which of four different ways each sequence will play back: Forward, Reverse, Alternate, or Random. For more information see section 6.3.3.2. 5.4.4 Legato Three options are given on a per-sequence basis: Off, On, and Reset. Your selection has an equal impact on all steps within that sequence. This parameter is only available inside the MIDI Control Center. See section 6.5.5 for details. 5.4.
5.6 Template management: Save, Delete, Import, Export, etc. These important features have been documented in the MIDI Control Center manual, which you will find in the software Help menu. Look in section 7.1 there for information about Save, Save As…, New, Delete, Import and Export. 5.7 The Sequence window The center of the MIDI Control Center window is home to a very useful set of graphics that show what is happening inside each sequence.
There’s a lot more to know about this feature.
The function of the User Scale is identical to that of any other Scale; they can help you quickly find the right note for a sequence step when working in SEQ mode. The difference is that seven of the eight Scale options are preset and cannot be changed. The seven preset Scales will suffice for many musical applications.
6 SEQUENCER OPERATION Some parameters that are part of each BeatStep sequence cannot be accessed from the front panel; they can only be edited using the MIDI Control Center. See section 6.5 for a list of these ‘hidden’ parameters. The main focus of this chapter is how to use the sequencing capabilities that are available from the BeatStep front panel when it is in SEQ mode. 6.1 What’s a step sequencer? A step sequencer is a very basic type of music sequencer.
What a Scale doesn’t do is change the MIDI notes that have already been assigned to the sequence steps: the encoders do that. What a Scale does is give the encoders a specific outline of notes to follow as they are turned. So rather than always altering the pitch chromatically, you have the option to specify a different musical scale.
6.2.3 How the root note of a sequence is determined The actual note sent by a BeatStep sequence at any given moment is the sum of three parts: 1. The note that was selected for the current sequencer step 2. The setting of the Overall Transpose parameter, which may be changed either by editing the value in the MIDI Control Center or by simply turning the big encoder while holding the SHIFT button 3. The lowest incoming USB MIDI note currently playing in the DAW track that matches the Sequencer Channel.
pressing a pad allows you to set various sequence parameters. See section 6.3.3 below to learn about those features. 6.3.3 Setting the Sequence Parameters There are four fundamental aspects of each sequence which can be edited from the BeatStep front panel. Changes to the following features can be made either while the sequence is stopped or while it is playing: 6.3.3.1 Input Scale Take a close look at the eight pads on the top row: there are words like ‘Chromatic’ and ‘Minor’ printed beneath them.
To select a new Pattern Length, hold the SHIFT and CHAN buttons and then press the pad that corresponds to the desired setting. The Pattern length is set to 16 steps by default. As you can see, the four features we just covered and the ways they interact give you a huge amount of flexibility whether you are attached to a computer or not. But there are even more sequence features that are not available from the BeatStep front panel! They can be edited only inside the MIDI Control Center. See section 6.
6.5 Sequence settings found only in the MIDI Control Center There are some very cool sequencer options that can only be accessed through the included MIDI Control Center software: 6.5.1 Sequencer Channel By default the Global MIDI channel and Sequencer Channel are set to the same value (MIDI channel 1). But they can be set independently, so you can control one device with the encoders and pads in CNTRL mode and play a different device with the sequencer.
6.5.4 User Scale As with any other Scale, the User Scale can be selected from the BeatStep front panel. (see section 6.2.1 for details). What the MIDI Control Center does is allow you to define what the notes in the User Scale will be. This process is described in section 5.8. 6.5.5 Legato In musical terms, when a musician is told to play something ‘legato’ it means to play it smoothly, with no space between the legato notes.
7 BEATSTEP AS A CV/GATE OR MIDI INTERFACE BeatStep packs a lot of power for something about the size of a computer keyboard. It provides direct access to some of the best music technology the world has produced in the last six decades: USB, MIDI, and CV/Gate connectors are all present on its side panel in a space not much larger than a pencil. In this chapter we’ll give an overview of the USB and MIDI functionality and then focus on the features of the BeatStep CV/Gate circuitry.
7.2 CV/Gate operation 7.2.1 Selecting the right source for CV/Gate signals The pads and the sequencer generate information that can be translated easily into CV/Gate signals and then sent to an attached device. It’s also possible to send MIDI note data via USB from a particular MIDI track in your DAW software to the BeatStep CV/Gate jacks. Two things to keep in mind, though: • CV/Gate jacks on any device are monophonic.
8 DEFAULT SETTINGS The following table lists the default settings for each of the CNTRL presets: Parameter Value mode Midi ch/device Transport buttons STOP PLAY Stop (01) Play (02) MMC MMC 127 (device) 127 (device) CNTRL MODE Pad velocity curve Encoder acceleration Encoder 1 Encoder 2 Encoder 3 Encoder 4 Encoder 5 Encoder 6 Encoder 7 Encoder 8 Encoder 9 Encoder 10 Encoder 11 Encoder 12 Encoder 13 Encoder 14 Encoder 15 Encoder 16 Pad 1 Pad 2 Pad 3 Pad 4 Pad 5 Pad 6 Pad 7 Pad 8 Pad 9 Pad 10 Pad 11 Pa
9 ARTURIA BEATSTEP – LEGAL INFORMATION 9.1 FCC INFORMATION (USA) Important notice: DO NOT MODIFY THE UNIT! This product, when installed as indicate in the instructions contained in this manual, meets FCC requirement. Modifications not expressly approved by Arturia may avoid your authority, granted by the FCC, to use the product. IMPORTANT: When connecting this product to accessories and/or another product, use only high quality shielded cables. Cable (s) supplied with this product MUST be used.