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Chapter 14 Ultrabeat 391
Create Ultrabeat tonal percussion
Tonal percussion sounds such as toms or congas are relatively easy to emulate electronically with
sine or triangular wave oscillators. Ultrabeat’s phase oscillator oers you a broad spectrum of
suitable basic sounds with which to start. Control the pitch of the oscillators with envelopes, and
use the programming techniques discussed in the kick and snare drum sections to alter tonality.
You should nd it easy to create a broad range of toms and similar sounds. See Create Ultrabeat
kick drums and Create Ultrabeat snare drums.
Use oscillator 2 model mode to create tonal percussion sounds
m Turn on oscillator 2 Model mode, then familiarize yourself with the eect of each parameter. You
should nd it is quite easy to create your own tonal percussion sounds, ranging from toms, to
small tabla drums, to glass bowls.
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Note pitches A1 to B0 in the Tutorial Kit contain typical 808 toms. Analyze these sounds and
modify them as you see t.
•
Note pitches C2 and C#2 in the Tutorial Kit contain tabla and glass sounds that combine
both Osc 2 Model and FM. They are also good examples of the complex use of velocity as a
modulation source.
Create Ultrabeat hi-hats and cymbals
Electronic hi-hat sounds are easy to create in Ultrabeat.
Create a hi-hat in Ultrabeat
1 Load the Standard Tutorial sound.
2 Turn o oscillator 1 and turn on the noise generator.
3 In the noise generator, make sure the Cuto parameter is modulated by Env 1, the modulation is
negative, and the position of the Mod slider is below that of the base parameter value.
4 Use rather short decay values for Env 1 and Env 4.
5 Set the attack time of Env 4 to a value of 0. The attack time of Env 1 should also be rather short,
but not equal to 0.
Note: You’ll nd a similarly constructed sound listed as “hihat 1” at a pitch of F2 in the Tutorial Kit.
Also analyze the hi-hat sound “hihat 2” at pitch F#2.
Create cymbals in Ultrabeat
It’s not far from the hi-hat to the crash cymbal. The main dierence between a hi-hat and crash
cymbal sound is the length of the decay time. Correct assignment of the envelopes is the key to
producing dierent cymbal sounds.
m Select the Cym 1 and Cym 2 sounds in the Tutorial Kit and try dierent envelope assignments
and settings for Cuto and Volume in the noise generator, Cuto and Volume in the main lter,
and so on.