User Guide

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way compared to the original timing of the Groove, somewhat reminiscent of a
‘shuffle’ parameter on a drum machine. Now vary the Hard Quantize to allow more
of the original feel, and move the Swing slider… now, the Swing Template is being
applied in addition to the original timing, resulting in a different type of feel again.
There are a number of different Swing Templates, which you access using the
Template pull-down menu. Each has a different set of ‘rules’ to modify the feel of
the Groove, which result in a different character to the timing. Try them! The funky
opposing ‘Groove Dudes’ are a graphical representation of the two quantization
parameters.
Controlled randomization…
In addition to the versatile Quantization panel, BFD offers a further two
functions to vary the expressive character of its output. The Humanize
Timing panel allows you to introduce a controlled amount of variation to
the timing of the Grooves. When you click on the icon, a popup graph panel
is displayed, which represents the probability distribution of random timing
variations: the x-axis represents the deviation from the original timing, while the y-
axis indicates the probability that a certain time deviation will occur.
Move the mouse over the graph to see how it reacts.
You will find that the curve changes shape according
to mouse movements, while clicking the mouse
button ‘sets’ the shape. With a graphical shape
similar to that shown here, the randomization is
quite extreme. Effectively, the graph is showing you
that there is the highest probability of large timing
displacements.
With the graph shape shown here, there will be a
reasonable amount of randomization: most notes
will have a slight timing deviation, but there will be
the odd note which is displaced to a more extreme
degree.