10.6

608Logic Pro Instruments
Create kick drums in Logic Pro Ultrabeat
Electronically produced kick drum sounds are based primarily on the sound of a deeply
tuned sine wave. Follow the tutorials sequentially to get the most from these examples.
Program a basic kick drum in Ultrabeat
1. In Logic Pro, choose Settings > Tutorial Settings > Tutorial Kit, and select Standard Tut
from the Assignment section.
Note that oscillator1 is in Phase Oscillator mode.
2. Find a suitably tuned pitch in the lower octaves by soloing the bass drum along with
other important tonal elements of the song (a bass or pad sound, for example). Drag the
Osc1 Pitch slider to adjust the pitch until appropriate.
3. Use Env4 to shape the volume of the bass drum.
For slower beats you may want a longer decay phase, whereas at faster tempos a
shorter decay time is more appropriate. The attack time of Env4 should be very short
(zero, in most cases) or the sound loses its percussiveness and its ability to be clearly
heard in the mix.
Give your drum more kick by controlling the pitch with an envelope
The kick drum still sounds very soft and is somewhat reminiscent of the famous TR-808
bass drum. It’s still missing a clearly defined attack.
1. In Logic Pro, make sure that Env1 is chosen from the mod pop-up menu of the
oscillator1 Pitch parameter.
2. Set the degree of modulation by dragging the blue Mod slider approximately 3 to
4octaves above the original pitch.
3. Set the attack time in Env1 to 0 by dragging the leftmost of the two junction points on
the x-axis all the way to the left.
4. Experiment with the decay time by dragging the rightmost of the two junction points on
the x-axis. You’ll discover that higher decay values (shifting the Bezier handle to the
right) result in sounds similar to synth toms, whereas shorter decay values (shifting to
the left) provide the kick character.