Ultrabeat Grid Editor with HyperEdit : An improved Sequencer

[zaque]

Ultrabeat Hyper Editor

 

It seems that lately a lot of people have been commenting and complaining about limitations and frustrations with the Ultrabeat sequencer. I have to admit to finding the Ultrabeat sequencer a bit too click-heavy at times and would like to be able to easily see what all of my drum parts look like simultaneously. A multi-part grid editor, if you will. Well, Logic has the Hyper Editor which is made to handle just such a task!

 

Prerequisites and Assumptions

 

1. Understand how to assign an Instrument to an Audio Instrument Track

2. Make sure you have an Instrument Audio Object containing an instance of Ultrabeat.

3. Understand basic Environment features such as selecting or creating layers, creating instruments, and the basic concept behind "cabling".

 

Note: even if you don't fully understand point 3. you may be able to continue but be prepared to read through Chapter 5 - Environment (Page 201) in your reference manual as well as Chapter 14 - Hyper Editor (Page 455).

 

Creating a Mapped Instrument

 

1. Open your Environment Window (Windows->Environment).

2. Either select a Layer that you wish to create your Mapped Instrument on or create new one.

3. Create a new Mapped Instrument (New->Mapped Instrument). Go ahead and close the window that opens up. Make sure that you leave the checkbox next to Icon selected so that you will be able to see this instrument in the Arrange Window. Give your instrument a new name if you wish.

4. You must now cable your newly created Mapped Instrument to your Audio Instrument Object containing Ultrabeat. To do this hold the Alt key while clicking on the Mapped Instrument. Navigate the menu that appears to the Audio Instrument containing Ultrabeat. You should see a dialog popup asking if you wish to Remove Channel and Port Settings. Click Remove.

5. Double click on the Mapped Instrument you just created and you should see a keyboard similar to the Matrix Editor. At this point you should be able to play Ultrabeat. Scroll to key representing C1 and and click the key. You should hear a kick drum. You should see the GM names for each drum part but you can also edit the drum part names at this point if you're so inclined. These are the names you'll be seeing later in the Hyper Editor so you may want to take the time to name them (or consider coming back to do it once you've gotten this all working).

 

You now have an Ultrabeat Mapped Instrument!

 

Creating a Hyper Set and Drum Editor

 

1. In the Arrange Window Create a track with next instrument (Track->Create With Next Instrument)

2. Click and hold on the icon of the new track. A menu will pop up. Scroll to your newly created mapped Instrument. It will show up under the name of the layer you created it on and will be named whatever you named it in the Environment.

3. Now it's time build in the range of your new instrument. This may seem odd but just stick with me here. Since Ultrabeat responds to drum hits on C1 through B2 we're gonna program that range in by recording it. I'm ignoring the bass notes starting at C3. Press the Pause button on the Transport so it lights up Orange (Play will light Green). Press the Record button so it lights up Red. Do not press Play!

4. Play every note (White Keys and Black) in sequence from C1 up to B2. You may want to watch what happens in the Matrix Editor. Press Stop to get out of Record mode. You can also of course draw in each note if you wish but I think this is faster and sort of a cool trick (thanks to Stephen Bennett from SOS for pointing this out in his "Creating In Logic" article from V21.I5).

5. Make sure the region you just recorded is selected and open the Hyper Edit window. (Windows->Hyper Edit)

6. Create a new Hyper Set (Hyper->Create Hyper Set)

7. Clear the Hyper Set (Hyper->Clear Hyper Set)

8. You should just be left with one Hyper Set definition called Volume so delete it (Select it and Hyper->Delete Event Definition)

9. Now it's time to see where all this is headed! Create Multiple Event Definitions (Hyper->Multi Create Event Definition). A dialog will pop up asking for which events you wish to create definitions for. Click All.

10. Watch as each drum part is filled in starting with your first Kick at the top. Cool, hunh?

11. Give your new Hyper Editor a name if you wish by double clicking on "MIDI Controls" (Highly recommend doing this, btw)

 

You now have an Ultrabeat Hyper Editor!

 

Program Ultrabeat using your New Hyper Editor

 

1. You can either use the region you just created at record time and delete each note with the eraser tool or delete that region and start from scratch. In the Arrange Window select the region on the track which is using your Mapped Instrument and delete it. Now take the Pencil tool and draw a new region. Make the region two bars.

2. Create a two bar cycle around the region you just created.

3. Make sure the region is selected and open the Hyper Editor.

4. Click and hold the name of the Hyper Set on the left just about the Parameters pane and select the name of the Hyper Set you just created. For me I called it "Drum Editor Example".

5. You should see all your drum parts again.

6. Select the Pencil tool and start drawing in some parts.

7. Notice that you can set a Quantization Grid for each track! Try setting your kick to quarter notes and just draw across so that you get a kick on each beat. Next select your Closed Hat track and set it's Quantization to eighth notes and draw across. Notice how it quantizes differently for each track.

8. You might be saying to yourself - "Wait, each velocity is different! Do I need to manually set the velocity for each hit if I want them to be the same?" The answer of course is "No". Draw in one note, set the Velocity to what you want, click the "Fix Value" check box below the parameters pane and draw in the remaining hits. Voila!

 

Conclusion

 

Hopefully you're seeing that the Hyper Editor was just made to do stuff like this! There are other drum programming friendly features in there so check them out and perhaps add some to this thread so that others can benefit.

 

Hope this helps those of you disgruntled with the Ultrabeat sequencer! Combine this handy little Editor with an instance of Multi-Channel Ultrabeat with outputs feeding a few Aux objects in your Arrange and Mixer windows and save as a template or part of your Autoload and you've got yourself a really powerful and [more?] user friendly drum sequencer/mixer!

 

Good Luck!

 

I should again give credit to Stephen Bennett at SOS. I borrowed some of his ideas and details from his SOS article mentioned above. His article really helped me understand this aspect of what I was doing better and showed some good tricks to get it setup!

[zaque]

Here is a screen shot of what I'm talking about where I just clicked around a lot so you can see what I mean by visualizing the various drum tracks.

[beatz]

Would just like to add a sample management tip to this excellent sequencer tutorial.

 

Those who make heavy use of drum samples with ultrabeat should group their drum samples into a folder and drag n drop this folder onto the 'loop browser' in logic.

 

The folder will appear as a library within the loop browser and you can just drag samples from the loop browser directly into ultrabeat's sample window!

[Jeffason]

AMAZING!!

 

I had no idea about this "hyper editor" thing, and the features...!

 

Per-Note grid setting?!?! UP TO 1/92'S??? And when you change ...it keeps the notes in place..!!!

 

You ROCK! I was looking for a way to control other instruments with Ultrabeats sequencer, but this is even better!!!

 

Thanks a ton man, seriously!! I can now program GM drum banks, etc with this grid editor ( yeah I could use matrix, but this is much more elegant )

[maybenot]

NICE NICE MATE !!

 

Exacly what I've been looking for !!

 

 

Much much apreciated !!!

[camillo jr]

This is all really useful, thanks a ton for putting this out there!

 

Is it possible to flip the whole display so Kick is on the bottom, next snares and so on? I'm so used to working with the Matrix ed where the bottom to top arrangement reflects both the way the notes are on my keyboard and in UB.

 

And a couple of other questions.... is there a way to select all the tracks at once so you can apply one Q setting? And can you make the hyper editor conform to a pre-existing quantize setting? Thanks in advance for any input.

[cali316]

Man, this is absolutely sick! Thanks for such a great and easy to follow tutorial (I never touched the Hyper Editor until now). Quick question for you guys, do I need to create a new template every time I select a new drum kit in Ultrabeat, or does the mapping always stay the same?

 

Thanks again - very useful

[camillo jr]

New questions... Is the mapped instrument really necessary? I've created a UB Hyper editor without cabling the mapped instrument to UltraBeat and the only difference AFAICS is that I record my midi tracks directly on the UB track or sub-track rather than on the mapped instrument track.

 

And is it possible to change the quantization after the fact in the Hyper editor? It seems like once you pick a grid setting for a track, that's the grid the notes stay at, even when you change the q setting. Is it supposed to work this way?

[prospect]

I was able to do this without creating the mapped instrument.

Also, this works GREAT with the EXS too!

 

Great tutorial, you're helping me consider getting rid of my MPC for good!

[danyboy]

Hi, thanks for the tip!!

 

I'm pretty new on Logic and was wondering if you can use Hyper edit to control plugin parameters such as filter cutoff?

 

Thanks everyone!

[tatem]

has any one attempted this with Battery and just curious if the names of the sounds update automatically in the editor?

[jaytranzmit]

The automapping only part names for use within the Matrix editor, you need to manually type in the drum description using the Mapped instruments although you can do the same from within the Hyper editor. It's a shame it doesn't automatically recognise as that would be a great feature.

 

You can change your Hyper editor so that the keys run from bottom to top. I prefer it that way myself, just seems a bit backward as standard with C1 at the top. Not infront of it right now but, the option for what key is assigned is in the left hand collumn.

[neiljohnstonii]

If you want to change the order, just click on that event definition and drag it where you want it.

[twinstates]

+1 on Danny's question.

 

and a bit of an addition, I would like to use it to control any parameter if possible (such as the knobs controllers on Kore (which I thin have mapped to loads of different plug parameters)

 

I find Logic's automation realyl difficult to use. . .

 

Thanks

 

TS

[LukeDunn]

+1 on Danny's question.

 

and a bit of an addition, I would like to use it to control any parameter if possible (such as the knobs controllers on Kore (which I thin have mapped to loads of different plug parameters)

 

I find Logic's automation realyl difficult to use. . .

 

Thanks

 

TS

 

I made hypersets for all the Logic instruments (in Logic pro 7) I'm not sure if it will translate over to 8 but I don't see why not.

 

I posted them here http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=12968&highlight=

 

you can do the same thing with all the Logic plugins as well... you can edit them all in the Hyper Editor.

 

There is an additional link where I posted the Hypersets, it will direct you to a disussion I had regarding creating them, it might give you some insite.

 

Luke

[sir00]

hello all,

Im having trouble following this tutorial. And i have a few questions.

Sorry for my lack of knowledge (beginner).

1. does this work in logic 8?

2.if so, is an 'audio instrument track' the same as a 'software instrument track' ..as far as i know u cant add ultrabeat to an audio track(correct?)

3.what is meant by "Make sure you have an Instrument Audio Object containing an instance of Ultrabeat"?

 

Thanks in advance.

[zaque]

Software Instrument is the same thing.

 

You may just also want to check out Ultrabeat's "Fullview" sine that'll get you a similar view of the drum program.

[origin]

Hello everyone.

 

I'm with Zaque, why not use the purpose-built window within Ultrabeat for drum programming?

 

Are there some features to the Hyper Editor that are superior to the Piano Roll editor and Hyper draw within Logic 8?

 

Thanks,

 

=Origin

[Michael Pettis]

Whoa that is flippin sweet. Its almost like using redrum without eating processing power like with rewire and reason. Its just better integration of a step sequencer in the logic environment. Goooood stuff Thanks a mill.

[nury3000]

Is there a way to pan each drum (HH, ride, Toms) separately in Ultrabeat? I demixed my track in the arrange area but I'm not getting separate tracks on the mixer. Any advice? Thanks.

[SirReel]

I've got a question on this one... I was trying to do the same thing, but for EZDrummer. I'm sure there is one someone else has built out there already, but trying to learn some new techniques. Anyway, once I got it complete, the midi track I created was white in the Arrange window, and wouldn't produce sounds. However, when I drug it up to the original Instrument track, it played fine. Did I cable something wrong when creating the mapped instrument? One thing I noticed was that in the original instructions, it mentions Alt-Clicking the mapped instrument. This didn't bring up but Ctrl-click (or right-click) did bring up a menu and I found the original instrument in it and selected. I took that as changes since this was posted as it's almost 2 years old now. Any ideas what I did wrong?

 

Mac Pro 8*2.8 | 12GB RAM | 10.5.3 | LP 8.0.2

[route-electrique]

Thanks for the Zaque & Beats for the great tips!

[inquiry]

For anyone reading this thread in 2009 -- it's all totally out of date.

 

For Logic 8 --

 

First, Ultrabeat's onboard sequencer now shows multiple drum voices at once so there's less need for this in general.

 

If you do still want to use Hyper Editor, you don't need to mess with the Environment at all.

 

Just create a normal Ultrabeat track. Pencil in a note in the Piano Roll for each of the 25 Ultrabeat voices (keyboard notes) and select all notes. In Hyper Editor use the "Create Hyper Set for Current Events" command.

 

A lane will appear for each voice. And yes, maddeningly, in reverse order (as with the Environment approach described above).

[cashfit]

For anyone reading this thread in 2009 -- it's all totally out of date.

 

For Logic 8 --

 

First, Ultrabeat's onboard sequencer now shows multiple drum voices at once so there's less need for this in general.

 

If you do still want to use Hyper Editor, you don't need to mess with the Environment at all.

 

Just create a normal Ultrabeat track. Pencil in a note in the Piano Roll for each of the 25 Ultrabeat voices (keyboard notes) and select all notes. In Hyper Editor use the "Create Hyper Set for Current Events" command.

 

A lane will appear for each voice. And yes, maddeningly, in reverse order (as with the Environment approach described above).

 

 

The only reason you might want to use this method instead of the ultrabeat built in sequencer is because you can do note by note quantization. i.e. you can sequence in triplets and duple meter in the same track and you can do infinitely long sequences.

[JDS1]

Cashfit.

 

[inquiry wrote:

For anyone reading this thread in 2009 -- it's all totally out of date.

For Logic 8 -- First, Ultrabeat's onboard sequencer now shows multiple drum voices at once so there's less need for this in general.If you do still want to use Hyper Editor, you don't need to mess with the Environment at all. Just create a normal Ultrabeat track. Pencil in a note in the Piano Roll for each of the 25 Ultrabeat voices (keyboard notes) and select all notes. In Hyper Editor use the "Create Hyper Set for Current Events" command. A lane will appear for each voice. And yes, maddeningly, in reverse order (as with the Environment approach described above). ]

 

Is this process the same for external drum programs like BFD2?

just insert it to track, play all notes in piano roll, create hyper set etc?

Sounds pretty simple.

[eliasdk]

NICE NICE MATE !!

 

Exacly what I've been looking for !!

 

 

Much much apreciated !!!

 

Thanks a lot for this tutorial! Is it possible to assign each sound in the hyper editor to a specific symbol in the score editor? (so that I can program my drums with hyper editor and midi and easily translate them to drum notation). I 'm kind of a fanatic, and I want all my midi drums to be recorded by a real drummer, so I need to give the exact sheet of what i want...

[David Nahmani]

Is it possible to assign each sound in the hyper editor to a specific symbol in the score editor? (so that I can program my drums with hyper editor and midi and easily translate them to drum notation). I 'm kind of a fanatic, and I want all my midi drums to be recorded by a real drummer, so I need to give the exact sheet of what i want...

 

Yes. You need to create a mapped instrument in the Environment, and route it to the instrument. Then drag that mapped instrument to the track where the instrument was. In the environment, double-click the mapped instrument to reopen its window and for each note pitch you can choose different parameters (note head, staff position, etc...).

[b-pole]

or anyone reading this thread in 2009 -- it's all totally out of date.

 

For Logic 8 --

 

First, Ultrabeat's onboard sequencer now shows multiple drum voices at once so there's less need for this in general.

 

If you do still want to use Hyper Editor, you don't need to mess with the Environment at all.

 

Just create a normal Ultrabeat track. Pencil in a note in the Piano Roll for each of the 25 Ultrabeat voices (keyboard notes) and select all notes. In Hyper Editor use the "Create Hyper Set for Current Events" command.

 

A lane will appear for each voice. And yes, maddeningly, in reverse order (as with the Environment approach described above).

 

Thanks for the tips.