This version is actually still an alpha as I still have more features to implement and the graphics are not yet completed. I've fixed all the bugs I've found so far, so hopefully you should find it stable. It has only been tested in SX3 so far. I haven't got time to do any documentation until next week and so you will have to experiment with it a little to get the hang of things. It is fairly complex, but hopefully intuitive, I'll describe the essential need to know stuff here:
* The 5 rows of buttons to the top right are for each of the 10 Sections:
1 - Drum Trigger Pads
2 - Sequence Trigger Pads
3 - Section ON/OFF
4 - Solo Section - When soloing a section it will also automatically select that section for editing via the next row. The button at the far right of this row, resets all solos to off.
5 - Currently edited part
The A button to the right will trigger all sequences together to play the whole loop and is useful whilst working on a loop or for recording a loop to WAV. This can also be triggered via midi, but I'll discuss that further down...
SECTION EDIT
The Top Left Knobs are for editing a single section, and if 'section' is selected on the display panel, further setting are also displayed. This all displays the currently selected section chosen in Row 5 described above. I don't know how to easily describe that but it should become clear when you use it
The Panel shows modulation routing options for the current seletion, there are 3 random value generators which happen with each midi/sequence trigger, they can all be disabled via the top randoms off button. The available destinations are show next to each random value.
Below that are the Modulation Sequencer and the LFO, again with their possible destinations. The Modulation Sequencer and LFO ON/OFF buttons are located next to the Record section (bottom Right).
MIDI INPUT vs PANEL INPUT AND RECORDING
Black Magic is designed for 2 specific scenarios.
The first is to use it to create WAV loops by using the seuence triggers at the top left. You can either use the A button to play all sequences in sync, or you can trigger each individually using the 1-10 buttons. When Record is clicked it will wait until the first note of Sequence 1 comes around and then Record for the number of Bars selected in the Master Settings. It will automatically switch off when finished recording, and you can hear the file just recorded by clicking play. The WAVS are dumped in a BPM folder in the location that you chose to install the Samples. They are automatically named by date and time. You can click on the Open button to open the folder where the recordings are currently being stored.
The second scenario is to use it as a live performance sequencer via Midi. Octave 3 from C-A will trigger the drum samples like a traditional drum machine. The 4th Octave is used to trigger the sequences, and so complex rhythms can be jammed out live using all the available sequences. The note B4 corresponds to the A button and will trigger all sequences as a sychronised loop. The 2 octaves above this can be used to manipulate the Master Pitch of all playing sections, so it is possibly to play tunes with the loops
MASTER SECTION
The Master section Top Row has Volume, FX Mix, Swing and Humanize which affect the entire synth output. The Master volume is before the Compressor so reducing the volume here will reduce compression.
The Second and Third Row are different (with the Exception of the Noise Gate) in that they change the values of all Section by adding or subtracting from a sections current settings, so centre has no effect, to the left will reduce amounts and to the right will add. The beauty of this is that you can drastically change the sound of the output with these knobs which will make them great for automation (not implemented yet!). For instance if the start times (sample Start location) are all set to various values between 0 and 10, turning the Master Start knob to 0 will make all samples start at the beginning, but it is non destructive to the relationship that all start values have with each other. Anyway I'm sure you will have fun playing with these knobs
I think the FX section should be easy to understand, there are more settings on the display panel under FX and Soundscaper.
The menu at the top will switch between Main View, Sequence View and Mixer View:
SEQUENCER
I think this should make sense, each row has buttons that can either be on or off for each section. There are also some function buttons to the right of each:
1 - Mirrors section ON/OFF
2 - Mirrors Solo
3 - Mirrors the Randomization Modulation ON/OFF described above.
4 - Default - Sets the section to its default settings.
5 - Random - This will randomize the actual sequence data.
6 - Random 2 - This one randomizes the number of playable steps and the tempo.
7 - Random Preset - The most useful, this chooses a random sequence from a database of presets and so will result in a more succesful random loop. The Master/Sequence randomizers on the main panel will also use this.
8 - First Note - When random (5) is used the first note will always be active. This is useful if you are using Black Magic to Jam via Midi as you get a drum hit when the key is pressed.
9-10 - SHIFT Left/Right will move the sequence left or right.
Also note that click underneath each sequence will act as a slider so you can make each sequence any length between 1 and 32. This allows for complex polyrythms to be created, which can overlap endlessly
Finally you can change the tempo of each sequence so that some play at half speed for example. Bear in mind that the top setting for Record Sync will selects the sequence between 1 and 5 which is used to drive the Record ON/OFF, so if you make that sequence a 1/2 tempo then the Recorded Bars will be twice as long.
MIXER PANEL
This is an overview of 12 of the Section settings, where you can quickly edit them and see the relationships easily. You can also set to default or Randomize each of the parameters. Randomizing the Pitches is a fun one.
The effect sends is also useful as you can turn them on/off from here and is a great place to be to do some dubbing!
Still to Do
- Drum Kit implementation - This will allow loading/saving collections of 10 drum sounds for the pads and will also double as a Master place to edit all the Wavs currently loaded.
- Add Patches and Automation - this will be done when it is feature locked.
- Lots of other minor stuff, I'm also open to suggestions.
EDIT1:
Oh yes, like with all other hgs products, the knobs and sliders have the following features:
- Double clicking resets to default value, ctrl and shift when help allow 2 different degrees of fine adjust.
Ok that's enough for now I think and should get you started. Let me know your thoughts on this forum. looking forward to hearing some feedback.
take care
Andy
This could be implemented putting a different colour for each note for each dynamic level or, better, using a continuos slider (that would be appear by right clicking on a note) and changing the note colour (more intense for high volumes, more light for low volumes)
