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Table Of Contents
Chapter 24 Ultrabeat 409
Programming in Building Blocks
As you become familiar with drum sound programming, you may begin thinking in
building blocks, realizing that drum sounds usually consist of different components.
Once you’ve mentally, or physically, written down your list of components, you should
try to emulate each component that contributes to the sound’s character—making use
of the different sound generators available in Ultrabeat. Assigning dedicated
(amplitude) envelopes to the different components allows you to control their
temporal behavior individually. As an example: You can emulate the body of a drum
with Oscillator 1, the sound of the stick hitting the skin (or first transient) with the noise
generator, additional overtones and harmonics can be provided by Oscillator 2 or the
ring modulator. Once you begin thinking that drum sounds consist of several building
blocks or layers, the design of the Volume controls in the individual sound generators
might make more sense to you, as this is the place where the blocks are combined,
balanced, and controlled.