MDRUMMER DOCUMENTATION www.meldaproduction.com info@meldaproduction.com MeldaProduction (c) 2014 INSTALLATION MDrummer is currently available for Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can download all software directly from our website. Due to its extensive size, it will be spread into multiple files - first there a ZIP file containing installers for all supported platforms, which you need to unzip.
Installation on Mac OS X MDrummer is available for VST, VST3 and AU interfaces. Installers create both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the plugins. If your host provides multiple plugin interface options, VST3 is usually preferable. If you experience any issues, contact our support via info@meldaproduction.com Most major hosts such as Cubase or Logic should work without problems. In some other hosts the keyboard input may be partly dysfunctional.
allow drag & drop, or make it just too clumsy, so the plugin will guide you a different way. You are allowed to use the software on all your machines, but only you are allowed to operate the software. The licences are "to-person" as defined in the licence terms, therefore you can use the software on all your computers, but you are the only person allowed to operate them. MeldaProduction can provide a specialized licence for facilities such as schools with different licence terms.
MIDI command method is much more versatile. MIDI commands are nothing else than notes you send to MIDI channels 1-9, which MDrummer recognizes as commands such as 'Play intro!' or 'Play loud break!'. It is described later in the documentation and in the video tutorials. Use the integrated help system using F1 and check out MDrummer tutorial videos.
Step 3: Setup a rhythm Quick setup module handles everything again. In the right part called Rhythms locate a rhythm you want to load by double-clicking on the file (or you can use the Load button underneath). Settings panel defines additional rhythm properties such as tempo, shuffling or humanization. You should notice the Additional button, which contains some additional features, such as when should MDrummer replace snare drum hits by rimshot hits.
If there is no sound, check if you didn't load a percussion rhythm with normal drumset for example. Simply put, the drumset defines sound, rhythm defines what to play. But if the rhythm is designed for say bonga and there are no bonga in the drumset, then the output will be silent. You may say the drumset is the drummer and the rhythm is a conductor. If he tries to conduct a drummer, which is not there, well, nothing will happen.
Create one part 8 bars long. Put there 8 notes: 7 times C-1 ("Play a quiet beat!") and one C0 ("Put there a quiet break"). Each of them should be at the beginning of the bar, so the part should look like this: Copy the part along entire song. As a result MDrummer will play the same sequence (containing 7 bars of beat and a break) again and again. Define verses and choruses. All MDrummer commands are currently on note "C", which means minimal complexity, hence a very silent verse.
commands. This might seem awkward, but it is actually simple and fast. You just need to change velocity of a few notes in the project. Which velocity value? It is hard to say, try and listen. And if you have a specific break in mind (from the Rhythm editor), then it's velocity is written in the title of the loop editor there. Managing multiple rhythms in one song MDrummer provides 9 rhythms, so you can control all of them of course.
Advantages of the Song sequencer Simple Can be used for jamming Disadvantages of the Song sequencer Clumsy Problematic modification Needs editing every time you change the arrange in your host MDRUMMER STRUCTURE We need to talk about how MDrummer actually works. But let's take it step by step. Sound engine The first part of MDrummer of the sound engine based on MDS (MDrummer drum system).
And don't worry, you won't probably be actually editing the rhythms, because MDrummer has a rhythm generator! MDRUMMER DATA MDrummer manages a huge library of samples, subsample libraries, loops, rhythms etc. To make it systematic and easily portable and to protect you from performing boring disk searches we decided to store all of the data inside one directory tree - certainly it is the MDrummer installation path - e.g. "C:/ProgramData/MeldaProduction" on Windows or "/Applications" on Mac OS X.
Drum parameters Basic and advanced parameters have their own panels under the drum list. Advanced panel is initially close as these parameters are rarely needed. Most of the parameters are obvious, so let's talk about the important tricky ones only. Note that again all parameters will be described later and help is accessible directly from MDrummer. Drum type is some kind of preset. When you change the drum type, name, channel and MIDI key associations are also changed to default values.
MDrummer play just one of them depending on velocity, or several of them on top of each other to make the sound fuller. And as usual, you can have any number of velocity layers in each drum. Use Velocity layers panel to manage the layers for the selected drum. Layer source panel contains the sound source for the selected layer. On top of the panel is the source selector and below its' parameters. If you change sound source, its' parameters are discarded, of course.
Let's explore the the actual rhythm structure. You should be faimilar with the loop types. Each loop type contains 12 loop boxes, one for each key in the octave. And there can be any number of loops in each loop box. Each loop box represents one complexity level and while we wanted MDrummer to be able to have more loops per each level, we developed loop boxes. Note that levels are not limited to 12 values, the notes in each loop can react to level too, but 12 levels could be totally different.
On the top of it you can see 3 icons. It allows you to insert new bar to the left, delete this bar and to add new bar to the right. Just click on corresponding icon. Hold ctrl to duplicate the original bar. A small arrow below these icons marks current playback position. Click anywhere in its row to change actual playback position. You can also use middle mouse button anywhere in the loop editor. Finally below the playback position rectangle there is the edit field containing the notes.
The best start would probably be a simple tutorial. Just follow these steps, please: Switch to Rhythm generator tab. Use the Load button to load some predefined generator settings. Load a loop from Beats subdirectory using the Essential beat editor, or just edit some simple groove. Leave Output rhythm channel with 1, so the target rhythm will be generated to the channel 1. Click the Generate all button. Switch to Rhythm editor and check your new rhythm on channel 1.
MELDAPRODUCTION MDRUMMER L Menu button Menu button shows menu with advanced features, additional settings of MIDI filters, styles and more.
Sample library analyzer is a unique feature, which lets MDrummer analyze a whole sample library and create components and drumsets using the samples, perfectly compatible other drumsets and rhythms. The sample analyzer is a wizard, which will guide you through the whole process, which should take just a couple seconds. MDrummer will analyze all the samples, determine their type, adjust volume, create components and drumsets from them and store them in Imported directory.
Calibrate button Calibrate button toggles the calibration mode. When calibration is enabled, any incoming notes are used to approximate source dynamic range and velocity transformation is generated. For example to calibrate an external electric drums, you enable the calibration mode and then hit each pad several times with velocities from the smallest to the biggest. Each time you hit a pad, the MIDI key is chosen and displayed, and its velocity transformation curve is adapted.
Envelope graph menu provides additional features to edit the graph. Open it using right mouse button in the graph. Note that if you select some points in the graph, or click on a point for example, the menu will be different and will cover features related to the selected set of points only. Modifier Modifier panel allows you to change output of the MIDI note to a different drum type for certain velocity range. This is useful e.g. when you want to play percussion with your electric drums.
OUTPUT MIDI FILTER Output MIDI filter provides very efficient way to connect MDrummer to a different target, such as another plugin. It is possible to generate different MIDI notes by each of the drum types. Load button Load button loads the entire settings from a file. Save button Save button stores the entire settings in a file. Source Source defines what drum is being edited. Mute button Mute button stops generating MIDI notes for this drum type completely.
Velocity mapping edits transformation from source velocities (X) into target velocity values (Y) and can be used if the target device doesn't have velocity curve settings and the velocities just don't sound correct. Envelope graph Envelope graph provides an extremely advanced way to edit any kind of shape you can imagine.
Minimal velocity Minimal velocity defines threshold for the velocity of incoming notes. If the note has at least this velocity, it will be processed. Otherwise it won't. This is useful to make source notes redirected to different target MIDI keys. For example, you may have a drum sampler, which uses multiple MIDI keys for snare drum, each for a different kind of stroke.
snare drums suitable for this style, only a few are actually marked hiphop, simply because they are suitable for several other styles as well. But specifying hiphop as preference will make MDrummer use these more often, but not limit his creative possibilities. Exclude Exclude may contain keywords, which must NOT be included in components used by drumset generator. You can specify multiple keywords by separating them using semicolon ";".
Write separate WAV tracks Write separate WAV tracks defines if MDrummer should record each output channel separately. If disabled MDrummer creates a single file containing output mixdown. WAV output directory WAV output directory defines where should MDrummer place files created when recording. button This button shows a menu with additional information about the plugin.
Drumset Drumset panel provides the quickiest way to control and configure the drumset and the other global sound properties. MDrummer contains a single drumset, which may have any number of drums based on unlimited number of sampled, multisampled or synthesized layers. Here you can quickly load, merge, generate and edit the whole drumset at once. You can also load, merge and generate effects for each drum and for master tracks.
Global volume defines volume of new sounds. When a note is played, MDrummer takes actual global volume value and assigns it to that note. Therefore if you change global volume quickly, more than one event can play at the time and each of them can have different volume. This produces more natural sound. However since it is applied before the effect pipeline, it might even change the sound character. This pays mostly for nonlinear effects such as compressor or limiter.
Drumset selector provides the best way to load and combine predefined drumsets and generate new ones. The provided directory tree lets you explore all factory, custom, generated and imported drumsets. There are directories for different styles, each of them contain several drumsets, which you can load by double clicking on them or using the buttons below. Imported directory is initially empty (or doesn't exist at all), but will contain all drumsets created using automatic sample import.
join, but it uses a generated drumset. Hold Shift to let MDrummer generate 2 drumsets and merge them. This way you usually get fuller sound with even bigger variability at the expense of higher CPU cost. It performs the same action as clicking the button twice, holding Ctrl for the second time. Generate Effects button Generate Effects button loads random set of effects to all drums. Hold Ctrl to avoid removing the current settings, hence appending the new effects into the chain.
add random layers and effects etc. Component item Component item contains one component of the drumset. A component contains one more more drums. For example, a hihat component contains closed hihat, open hihat and pedal hihat. These 3 drums are tuned together to have appropriate loudness and sound character, so that this combination makes sense and is called a component. In the component panel you can choose a component, randomize them, add effect layers and more.
drumset editor may be quite clumsy. Pencil button Pencil button switches to the drumset generator and selects the first of the component drums. Minus button Minus button decreases volume of all drums in the component by 1dB. It does that using output volume to avoid changing the nature of effect. Adjusting level using this button is easier because the component may contain several drums, so adjusting volumes of all of them in mixer or drumset editor may be quite clumsy.
Load button Load button loads a set of effects from a file and puts it into all master channels. This is often useful to completely change the sound character. Note that since this adds effects to all master channels, the CPU consumption may rise significantly when large number of output channels are used. In that case it is recommended to use the main Effects tab to control the effects directly for each output and send channel.
Rhythms panel provides the quickiest way to control and configure rhythms and the powerful virtual drummer kernel. A rhythm is a set of loops and various settings, which MDrummer uses to simulate a real drummer. MDrummer can handle up to 9 rhythms at once, though in most cases you will probably need just a single one. Note that all of the rhythms will use the same drumset and sound settings. Select the rhythm you want to manage using channel selector, then you can load, merge etc.
Rhythm selector contains the directory tree containing the hundreds of available rhythms. These are stored in directories by style. Note that many styles require certain tempo to sound properly. For example, drum'n'bass rhythms are designed for tempos around 160-200bpm, so if you play them in say 100bpm, they will most likely won't sound as drum'n'bass at all. Also note that you need to have a reasonable drumset loaded.
Generate button Generate button uses rhythm generator to create a completely random rhythm. It does that by loading a completely random rhythm generator settings and random essential beat (the groove) and then generates the resulting rhythm. This may serve as a huge source of inspiration. Undo button Undo button reverts previous change caused by loading/merging/generating the rhythm. MDrummer remembers 16 previous steps. Redo button Redo button re-does the last rhythm change, that has been undone.
L Break button L Break button says "Put there a long break (fill) !". Long breaks are typically twice as long as short ones. Note that the break may appear later, because breaks are often very short sequences at the end of the bar. Shortcut : 4 Outro button Outro button says "Play outro !". After the outro is finished, virtual drummer stops the playback (if it is in sequencer mode). This command can be automated.
Additional button Additional button shows a menu with additional rhythm playback settings. Additional rhythm properties window Additional rhythm properties window contains more advanced rhythm playback settings, which control MDrummer behaviour, synchronization to host, creating automatic cymbal hits etc. Random loops Random loops lets MDrummer choose loops randomly, if there are more of them available.
Advanced panel contains more advanced and esoteric settings. Jam mode Jam mode enables the jam mode for this rhythm. A rhythm in jam mode does not receive MIDI commands as usuall. It listens to the incoming MIDI instead, assuming it is a piano or another harmonic instrument and plays with it. Note that changes are made on breaks only, since this is the way real drummers play. When you enable jam mode in MDrummer plugin, you have 2 choices of how to tell MDrummer when to play and when not.
Mixer tab contains the master mixer, where you can easily adjust basic parameters of all drums - volume, panorama, pitch, output channel, sends etc. There are also master peak meters, which you can use to monitor levels of each output. Mixer Mixer lets you quickly edit basic drum parameters such as volume, panorama, pitch and output channel.
Mixer scroller Mixer scroller displays all available drums and their settings. The view is scrollable as the number of drums is unlimited and may not fit the window. Solo button Solo button mutes/unmutes all the other drums. Mute button Mute button mutes/unmutes the drum. Drum pad Drum pad triggers the drum sound the same way MIDI or the rhythm engine does. The further right you click, the higher velocity it will have.
with another drum using standard settings. Note that in Drumet editor / Drumset toolbar / Advanced you can store these settings and control if MDrummer should preserve the mappings whenever you load a different drumset for example. Send Send controls amount of drum signal sent to the master send effect pipeline, which you can control in the Effects tab. EFFECTS TAB Effects tab contains the master effect settings. MDrummer has a dedicated effect pipeline for each of the output channels and for both sends.
Effects lets you edit the global effect pipeline for output channels and sends. Effects list Effects list contains the list of effects in the pipeline. Select an effect to see its parameters on the right. Check/uncheck an effect to enable/bypass it. Click and drag an effect to move it, hence changing effect processing order. Randomize button Randomize button loads random effects into the pipeline. Hold Ctrl to avoid removing the current settings and rather appending the new effects into the chain.
Copy button Copy button copies the whole effect pipeline to system clipboard. Paste button Paste button pastes the whole effect pipeline from system clipboard. Add button Add button adds selected effect from available effects list to the effect pipeline. Available effects list Available effects list contains the list of available audio effect plugins. These are all high-quality effects integrated in MDrummer. Most of them are available as separate plugins at www.meldaproduction.com as well.
Effect parameters panel contains editor of the currently selected effect, if any. Presets button Presets button displays a window where you can load and manage available presets. Hold Ctrl to load a random preset instead. Left arrow button Left arrow button loads previous preset. Right arrow button Right arrow button loads next preset. Randomize button Randomize button loads a random preset. Randomize button Randomize button generates random settings.
Dry/wet Dry/wet defines ratio between dry and wet signals. 100% means fully processed, 0% means no processing at all. In normal mode only peak and shelf filters are affected correctly, other filters are left at 100% unless the ratio is set to 0%, in which case the equalizer is bypassed. Range: 0.00% to 100.0%, default 100.0% Input gain Input gain defines input gain applied before the equalization. Therefore this affects all dynamics-based processes. Range: -24.00 dB to +24.00 dB, default 0.
Auto-listen button Auto-listen button enables the auto-listen feature, which temporarily changes the equalizer shape when dragging a band to let you show what the particular band is actually doing. For example, when dragging a peak filter, the equalizer disables other bands and changes this one to a band pass filter, so that you would listen to the frequencies the peak filter is modifying.
instead. Left arrow button Left arrow button loads previous preset. Right arrow button Right arrow button loads next preset. Randomize button Randomize button loads a random preset. Tab selector Tab selector switches between subsections. Main settings panel Main settings panel contains the most useful settings controlling the analyzer behaviour and view. View Freeze button Freeze button stops processing temporarily.
View type View type controls the way the spectrum is displayed. By default a smooth curve is presented. This view provides the best resolution and detail, but other modes (1/3 octave, 1 octave) may be easier to read. Opacity Opacity controls opacity of all analyzer graphs. Resolution Resolution defines vertical range on the display. Human auditory system has a resolution of about 90dB and the relevant range is usually less than 60dB.
Slope Slope makes the analyser increase magnitude of higher frequencies, since they are typically lower in energy. 3dB per octave is a typical value, which makes pink noise horizontal as pink noise contains equal energy in each octave. Therefore if you set slope to 3dB, the response would be the same for the FFT and 1/3 octave graphs. Gain Gain makes all frequencies change magnitude by specified amount. This has no meaning when normalization is enabled.
Analytical smoothing mode Analytical smoothing mode activates a more complicated smoothing algorithm, which provides more accurate results, however it may require much more CPU power. Unlike normal smoothing this method doesn't change proportions of frequencies with higher magnitudes. It is useful mostly for technical analysis and for most musical signals it is often better to use the default smoothing method.
Average (infinite) Copy analysis button Copy analysis button copies current state of the analysis into a clipboard so you can paste it into another analyzer for comparison. Maximum Copy analysis button Copy analysis button copies current state of the analysis into a clipboard so you can paste it into another analyzer for comparison. Maximum (infinite) Copy analysis button Copy analysis button copies current state of the analysis into a clipboard so you can paste it into another analyzer for comparison.
Sonogram panel contains visual settings of the sonogram, mainly the sonogram colors. A sonogram uses a set of colors. When the particular frequency's level is minimum, the first color is used. When it is maximum, the last color is used. Otherwise it interpolates colors in between. Presets button Presets button displays a window where you can load and manage available presets. Hold Ctrl to load a random preset instead. Left arrow button Left arrow button loads previous preset.
Prefiltering panel provides the optional prefiltering, which means that level of each frequency is either increased or decreased. Normally the analyzer shows scientific levels of each frequency.However you can for example use the predefined loudness curves, which makes the analyzer show how the human auditory system responds to the frequencies, so it in fact provides more accurate analysis taking into account, that human hearing is more complicated than the mathematical model.
Right mouse button shows a context menu relevant to object under the cursor or the entire selection. Hold Ctrl to create or remove any points above or below. Middle mouse button drag creates a new point and removes any points above or below. It is equal to holding Ctrl and dragging using left mouse button. Mouse wheel over a point modifies its smoothing controller. If no point is selected, the entire selection is modified. Ctrl+A selects all points. Delete deletes all selected points.
Band settings window contains settings for the particular band and can be displayed by right-clicking on a band or from a band list (if provided). On the left side you can see list of available filters, click on one to select it. On the right side, additional options and features are available. General panel General panel contains standard filter settings such as frequency or Q.
Channels Channels controls which channels the band processes. If the input is stereo (left and right channels), then you can make a band process only left, only right, or both channels. Similarly when the plugin is set to M/S channel mode, you can choose between mid, side or both channels. You cannot process left with one band and side with the other, because these are working in different encodings. However you can easily place 2 instances of the plugin, one in L/R mode and the other in M/S.
limiter to the clipper or saturator, which causes more distortion of the initial transient, but less pumping. In a gate the situation is similar to a compressor - attack time controls how quickly can the level get above the threshold where the gate opens. In this case you will usually need very low attack times, so that the gate reacts quickly enough. The inevitable distortion can then be avoided using look-ahead and hold parameters.
Threshold Threshold controls minimum level at which the dynamic gain actually starts working. Level gain Level gain controls gain applied on the detector, which can be used for example when the input level is too low, so that dynamic processing becomes negligible. Link channels Link channels controls how much the signal level for each channel is controlled by the other channels. With 0% the link is disabled and each channel is not affected by other channels at all.
Semitones Semitones defines frequency of the harmonics. For example if the band is at 100Hz and number of semitones is 12 (default), then the first harmonic will be at 200Hz (12 semitones higher), second at 400Hz etc., thus logarithmically spaced harmonics. When linearily spaced harmonics are enabled, this merely changes the ratio between them. In this mode, 100Hz is followed by 200Hz, 300Hz, 400Hz, 500Hz etc. Maximal count Maximal count defines maximum number of harmonics created.
Band-pass panel contains parameters of the band pass, which you can use to additionally process the signal used measure level of the band. For example, you may want a band at high frequencies react to bass content by placing the band anywhere on the high frequencies and set the low-pass at say 200Hz. button This button enables tha band-pass monitoring and hence could be useful to tweak the band pass. button This button enables the band-pass module. It is off by default to save CPU resources.
Graph editor Graph editor lets you edit the envelope graph. Envelope graph Envelope graph provides an extremely advanced way to edit any kind of shape you can imagine. An envelope has a potentially unlimited number of points, connected by several types of curves with adjustable curvature (dot in the middle) and surroundings of each point can also be automatically smoothed using the smoothness (horizontal pull rod). You can also literally draw the shape in drawing mode available via the main context menu.
Bands panel contains the list of available bands along with their basic parameters. You can use it to enable/disable a band, change the parameters and show the settings window if you don't like editing the bands from the equalizer panel or if you need to set some values by text. The panel is collapsed by default, because it takes lots of space. Reset button Reset button restores the original equalizer settings. Invert button Invert button inverts gains of all bands.
Song tab contains the integrated song sequencer. It is provided as complementary to the MIDI command method. Song sequencer is easier to use, but far less versatile. However it provides features to actually convert the arrangement into MIDI commands, so you can actually edit your arrangement here, then drag & drop the MIDI command file into your host and stop using the sequencer afterwards.
you can use jam-mode. Start button Start button starts song playback from the beginning of the song. Play button Play button starts or stops the playback. Repeat button Repeat button makes MDrummer repeat the song at the end of it. This is especially useful for jamming, where the typical arrange contains just a single section repeated allover again and adjusting your playing input. Load song button Load song button loads the entire song and MDrummer settings.
Chorus button Chorus button adds a chorus to the selected rhythm channel track. Chorus button Chorus button adds a chorus to the selected rhythm channel track. Type Type defines loop type to play in the song part. Level Level defines loop level to play in the song part. It is relevant only if jam mode is disabled. Index Index defines index of the loop if there are more of them available. It is used the same way as velocity in the MIDI command method.
Drumset editor tab provides an extremely versatile drumset editor, where you can edit every aspect of the MDrummer's powerful sound generator engine. You can edit each of the unlimited number of drums in your drumset, from basic settings such as volume or panorama to the drum sources (generators) in each of the unlimited number of layers and per-drum effect pipeline with unlimited number of effects.
Generate button Generate button creates a drumset from several files inside Components subdirectory or even using completely original generated components. Hold Ctrl to keep the original drumset and join the new generated one. Hold Shift to let MDrummer generate 2 drumsets and merge them. This way you usually get fuller sound with even bigger variability at the expense of higher CPU cost. Shortcut : F5 Save Save button saves the drumset to its file (defined by name).
expensive, you should let it be zero for maximal performance. It is not significant for drums that are not frozen. This parameter can be automated. Panorama width Panorama width affects actual panorama settings for all drums. If you increase this value above zero, panorama of all drums will be also increased. Thus increasing this value will make resulting sound somewhat spatial. But note that it can only modify panorama settings, it does not accomplish any kind of stereo expansion.
Basic drum parameters panel contains basic parameters of the selected drum -appearance, sound and behavior. Actual drum sound is generated by drum layers, which you can edit on the right side. Each drum also has an effect pipeline editable on the right side as well. Drum pad button Drum pad button triggers the drum sound the same way MIDI or the rhythm engine does. The further right you click, the higher velocity it will have. Shortcut : A Name Name of selected drum.
Pitch defines pitch change of the drum sound. Advanced drum parameters Advanced drum parameters panel contains additional parameters of selected drum -behavior, routing, MIDI settings etc. Freezing capability Freezing capability can heavily decrease CPU usage of audio processing by precomputing entire drum sound, even with effects. Freezing prerenders only one drum sound for each velocity layer, of course.
Realisticity defines how much should MDrummer modify sound parameters to prevent chain-gun effect, which is very common when one drum is hit many times. Super-realisticity Super-realisticity provides an amazing chain-gun effect protection introduced in MDrummer 4. This algorithm usually provides great results, but also consumes significant CPU resources, therefore it is disabled by default.
List of velocity layers List of velocity layers contains names and ranges of all layers of this drum. Use the top toolbar to manage them. Use drum source editor below to edit the drum source for the selected layer. Play button Play button plays sound of selected layer with maximum velocity. Shortcut : A Add button Add button adds a velocity layer. Delete button Delete button deletes selected velocity layer. Duplicate button Duplicate button duplicates selected velocity layer.
Layer source panel allows you to setup drum sound source plugin and its parameters for selected layer. Copy button Copy button copies selected velocity layer to system clipboard. Paste button Paste button pastes selected velocity layer settings from system clipboard. Source plugin selector Source plugin selector contains list of installed sound source plugins. Current one is highlighted. Click on another one to change the sound source for current layer of this drum.
Drum effects panel allows you to setup effect pipeline for selected drum. Effects list Effects list contains the list of effects in the pipeline. Select an effect to see its parameters on the right. Check/uncheck an effect to enable/bypass it. Click and drag an effect to move it, hence changing effect processing order. Randomize button Randomize button loads random effects into the pipeline. Hold Ctrl to avoid removing the current settings and rather appending the new effects into the chain.
Save button Save button saves the whole effect pipeline to a file. Copy button Copy button copies the whole effect pipeline to system clipboard. Paste button Paste button pastes the whole effect pipeline from system clipboard. Add button Add button adds selected effect from available effects list to the effect pipeline. Available effects list Available effects list contains the list of available audio effect plugins. These are all high-quality effects integrated in MDrummer.
Effect parameters panel contains editor of the currently selected effect, if any. Presets button Presets button displays a window where you can load and manage available presets. Hold Ctrl to load a random preset instead. Left arrow button Left arrow button loads previous preset. Right arrow button Right arrow button loads next preset. Randomize button Randomize button loads a random preset. Randomize button Randomize button generates random settings.
RHYTHM EDITOR TAB Rhythm editor tab provides an extremely versatile rhythm editor, where you can edit every aspect of the MDrummer's powerful rhythm engine. Globals panel Globals panel provides general rhythm functions for loading, saving and configuring current rhythm channel. Load Load button loads a rhythm from a file. Shortcut : F3 Merge Merge button loads a rhythm from a file and merges it with the current one. Typically you use it to add percussion (shakers, tambourine etc.) to your rhythms.
Save Save button saves the rhythm to a file. Shortcut : F2 Undo button Undo button reverts previous change caused by loading/merging/generating rhythm. Redo button Redo button re-does the previous undone change caused by loading/merging/generating rhythm. Channel Channel defines which one of the 9 rhythms is being edited. This number corresponds to the MIDI channel if you are using MDrummer virtual instrument plugin.
Break button Break button says "Put there a break (fill) !". Note that the break may appear later, because breaks are often very short sequences at the end of the bar. Shortcut : 3 L Break button L Break button says "Put there a long break (fill) !". Long breaks are typically twice as long as short ones. Note that the break may appear later, because breaks are often very short sequences at the end of the bar. Shortcut : 4 Outro button Outro button says "Play outro !".
This parameter can be automated. Speed change Speed change allows you to make MDrummer play twice as fast, half as fast etc. It also applies to the virtual instrument plugin, while tempo does not. This parameter can be automated. Additional button Additional button shows a menu with additional rhythm playback settings. Collapse button Collapse button minimizes or enlarges the panel to save space for other editors. Edit panel Edit panel provides current rhythm configuration.
Double/half pattern speed is the exact opposite of double/half tempo feel. It changes tempo of the background percussion tracks only. This keeps the beat defined by bass and snare drums for example. Double/half beat speed changes the tempo of all beat loops, it keeps the breaks, intros and other loops intact. Double/half loop speed is the exact opposite, it changes the tempo all of loops except for beats. Copy beats to breaks copies beat loops into break and long break loops.
Template selector contains list of available templates. These are ordinary rhythms, except each loop box contains more than single loop. See Generate button help for more info. Generate template button Generate template button creates a template simply by merging multiple rhythms. When you press this button, a window for selecting rhythms is displayed. Select multiple of them and store the result as a template. You can then use this template in the generator.
useful to generate base rhythms for example. Mingle many mode generates many loops of the same type the same way mingle mode works. It is useful for example to generate complicated break beat rhythms. Import/Export button Import/Export button shows a menu with additional rhythm edit functions, most of them are providing several import & export features.
Path Path contains current path. Write a different one and press enter to get into it. Settings Loop type Loop type defines loop type to create. Bar count Bar count defines number of bars per loop. Shufflability Shufflability defines shufflability parameters for each note. Generally you leave it 100%, but for some specific rhythms (e.g. afro breaks) you may want to change the value, since these are somehow shuffled already.
Batch MIDI import lets you import all MID files from a directory and all subdirectories and put them into loop-boxes of specified type or into another directory using MDrummer loop format. It also automatically detects loop levels. Loop type Loop type defines loop type to create. Apply standard level range Apply standard level range defines how loops are placed into loopboxes. If disabled, MDrummer spreads all of the loops into loopboxes according to total level range detected from the loops.
Load multiple loops lets you load all loops from a directory into loop-boxes of specified type. It also automatically detects loop levels. It can be used for example to load all loops previously stored by using save multiple loops function. Loop type Loop type defines loop type to create. Apply standard level range Apply standard level range defines how loops are placed into loopboxes. If disabled, MDrummer spreads all of the loops into loopboxes according to total level range detected from the loops.
Save multiple loops lets you save all loops of specified type to a target directory. This way you can easily save your loop collection you have edited or imported. It also marks loop levels, so the result is applicable in rhythm generator. Loop type Loop type defines loop type to store. Mark as shuffle loops Mark as shuffle loops makes MDrummer mark all loops as shuffle (as opposed to straight). This convention is required for rhythm generator.
Loop index list Loop index list contains all loops inside selected loop box. You can have as many loops as you need in each loop box. Drag & drop button Drag & drop button exports current loop into a MIDI file and lets you drag & drop it somewhere. Add button Add button creates new loop in current loop box and selects it. Delete button Delete button deletes current loop from current loop box. Collapse button Collapse button minimizes or enlarges the panel to save space for other editors.
the shortcuts(on the right). Above the note field you can see the line with current position and bar limits. Click into the position field to rewind. Alternatively you can use your middle mouse button anywhere in the editor. Each bar contains 3 buttons. Left arrow adds another bar to the left. If you hold ctrl, notes from current bar will also be duplicated. Right arrow does exactly the same thing, but adds the bar to the right. Finally Delete icon deletes current bar.
Generate button Generate button generates a new loops using the loops from selected directory. Close button Close button closes the window. Advanced settings Merge quantization Merge quantization defines to how long intervals are the loops cut. The shorter the intervals are, the more different combinations can be generated, but the less natural the results may be. Include subdirectories Include subdirectories makes MDrummer use loops from selected directory as well as any subdirectories inside it.
Export WAV renders the whole loop using current drumset into a wave file. Record replace switch enables or disables replacing when recording. By default this is enabled, which means that when you are recording the loop using your MIDI device, the new contents replace the previous ones. This can be disabled if you want to add new notes instead. Zoomer Zoomer lets you zoom horizontally into the loop editor.
Quantization panel provides configuration of quantization state which helps you managing new and even existing note positions. Quantization factor Quantization factor defines current quantization state that defines the behavior of the loop editor.
Rhythm generator tab contains the unique rhythm generator, which lets you create powerful rhythms from just a single groove. Most settings of the rhythm generator are initially hidden, but you can control every aspect of this marvelous feature here. Base rhythms Base rhythms file selector contains available base rhythms you want to use to generate resulting rhythm. A base rhythm is a normal rhythm that contains typically only background percussion, e.g. hihats and cymbals.
Generate all button Generate all button generates the output rhythm with channel Output rhythm channel. It sets the rhythm properties, generates the beats and all other loops. Generate beats button Generate beats button generates only the beats into the target rhythm. It leaves all other loops unaffected. Usually you may use the Generate all button to generate the whole rhythm and then tweak the essential beat without changing any other settings.
General settings panel General settings panel contains additional settings that apply to the rhythm as whole and mainly to generated beats. Merge base rhythm Merge base rhythm makes MDrummer use the base rhythm to generate target loops. You will probably leave this on. Use straight loops Use straight loops makes MDrummer use straight loops when generating breaks, intros and outros. If you are creating a shuffled rhythm, you will probably turn this off and enable use shuffled loops.
Prevent hi-hat collision Prevent hi-hat collision ensures that there are will be no colliding tracks if both base rhythm and loops being merged contain hihat track. Since most of the acoustic drum base rhythms contain hihats in non-beat loopboxes, it would create an unnatural effects if the loops contain them too. However this rarely matters in electronic music. Random cut-off Random cut-off makes MDrummer shorten loops from directories you check below, so target rhythm will be even more original.
Paste button Paste button loads settings from clipboard. It is useful for example when you want to copy the same settings into another rhythm channel. Channel Channel defines which one of the 9 rhythms will be replaced with generated one. Each channel also has separate settings, so when you come up with some rhythm generator settings in say channel 2, MDrummer will store it with your project, so you can modify it later but keep other rhythms intact.
Loop editor should be used to edit your essential beat. Essential beats typically contain only major rhythmic instruments such as a bass and a snare drum, while the rest is contained in the base rhythm. Do not forget to setup minimal and maximal levels for notes you want to include only in some of the target beats.
USED CONTROLS Here we will discuss the general properties of all application controls. As a most important rule you should note, that you can always use any question mark button or F1 (or ctrl+F1 or ctrl+H) key with mouse cursor at a specified control to get detailed information about what it does and how to use it. Zoomer Zoomer provides a simple way to zoom and move in an enlargeable view. Plus (+) button zooms-in. Minus (-) button zooms-out.
Edit Edit control provides standard way to specify any kind of text string. It can have limited length or limited set of allowed characters. Shift+arrows/home/end modifies selection. Ctrl+C copies selected text to clipboard. Ctrl+V pastes text from clipboard replacing selected text or inserting it into current cursor position. Ctrl+A selects the whole text. Ctrl+Tab inserts a tabulator character. This combination is provided because tab key alone moves keyboard focus to the next control.
Left mouse button selects an item. If you click on a check-box, the item will be checked/unchecked. Mouse-wheel scrolls the view. Arrow keys, page-up and page-down move the selection. Space checks or unchecks selected item(s). Home key selects the first item, End selects the last one. Tree-control Left mouse button selects an item. If you click on a check-box, the item will be checked/unchecked. Mouse-wheel, up and down arrow keys, page-up and page-down move the selection.
Space checks or unchecks selected item. Home key selects the topmost item, End selects the last one. Value button Value button is an alternative to the tracker and its main advantage is that it is very small. In some cases the button simply serves as a clickable item and a menu is shown when clicked. However mouse wheel and other controls still do work. Click/drag using left mouse button to change the value. Right mouse button selects default value.
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