Tutorial: Overlapping or Tied Notes

[chardin]

Today I wanted to see if Cream could produce several overlapping or tied notes. Here is a piano roll screen shot of what I want. Click on any of the small pictures for a larger one.

Here is what it sounds like playing C, Eb, G, and Bb chord progression: http://picosong.com/F7QQ

I started with a blank Cream preset. I first changed the Base note to C3 (upper left corner) to get the entire MIDI phrase to play in the octave I wanted.

Getting the whole notes was pretty easy. I changed the Rate knob to 1/1 (whole notes). I set the first TRANSP (transpose) slider to -12 to get the octave drop. I also set the first slider on SEQ (sequence) tab to 1. This tells Cream to play the first note of the chord. For example, play the C of a C, E, G chord.


Here is what it sounds like with the chord progression: http://picosong.com/F7QW

So far, so good. Next I wanted to add the higher half notes which are the G5 notes in the first picture. To do that, I used Track 2. I had to change the default "Key Area Control" to C2 and B5 and set the Base to C3. I set the Rate knob to 1/2 (half notes). I clicked on the Sequence tab and set each column to 3. This will play the third note of the chord (G in a C, E, G chord).

Here is what it sounds like with the chord progression: http://picosong.com/F7EZ

Nice. Now to add the off beat C5 quarter notes. I turned on Track 3 and the "Key Area Controls" just like before. I set the Rate to 1/4 (quarter notes). To get the off beat syncopation, I clicked on the SHIFT tab and pushed the sliders all the way to 50. This tells Cream to shift the notes to the right 50% of the note value. This will move the 1/4 notes to the "up" or "and" of the beat. Next, I clicked on the Sequence tab and set the columns to 1.


Here is what it sounds like with the chord progression: http://picosong.com/F78q

Things are starting to take shape. Now to add the final E5 quarter notes. I turned on Track 4 and set the "Key Area Controls" as before. I set the Rate knob to 1/4 (quarter notes). I then clicked on the Sequence tab and set the 2nd and 4th columns to 2. This tells Cream to play the 2nd note of the chord. For example, play the E in a C, E, G chord. Next, I clicked on the ORDER tab and set the 1st and 3rd columns to "Off." This tells Cream not to play anything and not to advance the note list.



Here is what it sounds like with the chord progression: http://picosong.com/F78m
And here is the final MIDI output:


Notice that all the levels are exactly the same. Playing with the ACCENT tab would fix that. One other thing is that I couldn't make the 16th note at the end of the MIDI phrase.

I hope this is helpful. It took me a while to figure this out but it was worth it. Thanks for reading and please post any comments or questions.

[nexussynth]

Thank you! please keep these tutorials coming.

[harmoney]

nice tut, thx, but for me, this is too much work comparing some tryings directly in a piano-matrix.
i wish cream had a libary with patterns like this. this is, where catanya has so a big advantage: this great lib of nice patterns. these rare given presets in cream are unfortunatly so arp-clichee-old-school.
a big refreshed and categorized libary and of course the possibility to change presets during running host (with the arrow-buttons/keys or with a CC), should stand at first of the update-agenda.
this also a place, whre 3rd party comes in: i would spend some euros for a nice package of patterns.

[nexussynth]

i would also buy a decent library of Cream patterns but maybe some users here could contribute a few?