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Chapter 14 Ultrabeat 368
Ultrabeat step sequencer
Ultrabeat step sequencer overview
Ultrabeat incorporates a powerful, integrated step sequencer, which you can use to create
polyphonic rhythmic sequences and patterns. The sequencer displays running light-style controls
like those of classic drum machines and shares many of the sequence and pattern creation
methods employed in these devices.
Ultrabeat’s step sequencer expands on the features of hardware drum machines by providing
extensive automation and editing features. These enable you to precisely vary the timbre of
the sound and the overall dynamics at any point in the pattern. The step sequencer plays an
important role in shaping the rhythms and sounds that you can produce with Ultrabeat.
The step sequencer allows all Ultrabeat sounds to be combined in patterns, based on sequences
for each individual sound. Its design and use—commonly referred to as step programming—are
based on analog sequencers and drum machines. Unlike these analog precursors, Ultrabeat
enables you to program automated changes for nearly every synthesizer parameter.
Depending on your working preference and favored musical style, you can control Ultrabeat
with either the integrated step sequencer or Logic Pro when programming rhythms. Combining
both sequencers is also possible; they can be active at the same time and are automatically
synchronized with each other. Logic Pro acts as a master clock in this situation, determining the
tempo of Ultrabeat’s internal step sequencer.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of step sequencing, see Step sequencer basics.
Step sequencer basics
The fundamental idea behind analog step sequencers is to set up a progression of control
voltages and output these step by step, typically in an endlessly repeating pattern. This principle
helped to spawn a number of electronic music styles based on the mesmerizing eect that
repeating patterns can have.
In early analog sequencers, three control voltages were usually created per step to drive dierent
parameters. The most common usage was control of a sound’s pitch, amplitude, and timbre
(cuto) per step.
The control surface of analog sequencers often contained three rows of knobs or switches
aligned on top of (or beside) each other. Each row commonly contained 8 or 16 steps. Each
row provided a control voltage output that was connected to a control input (for a particular
parameter) on a synthesizer. A trigger pulse determined the tempo between steps. A running
light (an LED) indicated the step that was currently being triggered.
The running light programming concept also appeared in later drum computers, the most well-
known examples being the Roland TR series drum machines.
The introduction of the MIDI standard and increased use of personal computers for music
creation led to a rapid decline in the step sequencer and related technology. More exible
recording and arranging concepts that didn’t adhere to the step and pattern principle were
possible with the far more powerful personal computer.
Despite these technological advances, step sequencers haven’t disappeared completely.
Hardware groove boxes have experienced a renaissance in recent years due to their intuitive
nature, which has made them a favored tool for rhythm programming.