Ultrabeat

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Ultrabeat Drum Synth

Ultrabeat is a 25 voice drum synth and operates similar to a traditional hardware drum machine. 24 Drum Voices are assigned to the first 24 MIDI keys (C1 to B2) while the 25th drum voice (beginning at C3) can be played chromatically on up, making it ideal for bass sounds, pads, or leads.

You can run through all the presets by key command (⌘→ or ⌘←) or in the Settings area at the top of Ultrabeat's window. Each preset contains all the drum sounds and their synth parameters as well as any step sequencer patterns.


Ultrabeat Assignment Section

Ultrabeat Assignment Section

Used to select and mix drum sounds.

Take note of the following functions:

  • Voice Auto Select: allows you to select drum voices through MIDI. It's useful when you're going back and forth between two sounds (kick and snare, e.g.) and use your left hand to select the drum voice with your keyboard while editing the synth section with your right hand.
  • Master volume slider
  • The blue Volume Slider on each drum voice can be dragged left and right to lower and raise the volume of that sound.
  • The vertical Keyboard is playable and lights when a drum voice is played through MIDI.
  • Solo and Mute buttons
  • Pan knob
  • The Output Menu lets you route the drum voice to individual outputs or an output pair. These options change depending on whether you load a Stereo or Multi-Output instance of Ultrabeat.

Drum voices can be dragged and dropped. If you drag one voice onto another voice, the drum voices and synth settings are swapped. If you hold Command while dragging and dropping, the sequences are also swapped. Option-drag to copy, not swap, the sound and not the synth or sequencer settings. Hold down Command+Option to copy the sound and sequences.

Ultrabeat Synthesizer Section

Ultrabeat Synthesizer Section

Used to change the sound of the selected drum voice.


Ultrabeat Step Sequencer

Ultrabeat Step Sequencer

Used to edit and control patterns and sequences.


Ultrabeat Step Sequencer Controls
  • Length field and bar
Defines the length of the pattern. Drag the value in the Length parameter field or the bar beneath the swing buttons to adjust the length.
  • Resolution menu
Determines the resolution of the pattern. 1/8 = each step of the grid represents an eighth note. A pattern length of 32 steps would run for 4 measures (4*8).
  • Note: The interplay between the Length and Resolution values allows the creation of different kinds of time signatures.
Length = 14. Resolution = 1/16. 7/8 time.
Length = 12. Resolution = 1/16. 3/4 time.
Length = 20. Resolution = 1/16. 5/4 time.


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