Modor DR-2 User manual

MODOR DIGITAL DRUM SYNTHESIZER
USER MANUAL - v1

Contents
1 Getting Started . . . 1
1.1 Overview ................................ 1
1.2 Patterns, songs and drumsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Connections............................... 2
1.4 Patternprogramming .......................... 3
1.5 Modulations............................... 4
1.6 Menunavigation ............................ 4
1.7 Loading patterns, songs and drumsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.7.1 ...fromthemenu........................ 5
1.7.2 ... from the frontpanel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.8 Saving patterns, songs and drumsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.9 Initialisation............................... 6
1.10Fingerdrumming... ........................... 7
1.11Keycombinations............................ 7
2 Overview 9
2.1 StructureoftheDR-2.......................... 9
2.2 Patterns, songs and drumsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Flashmemory.............................. 11
2.4 Frontpaneloverview .......................... 11
3 Drum synthesizer 13
3.1 Drum models or algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Envelopegenerator ........................... 14
3.3 Bassdrums ............................... 16
3.3.1 DriveBD ............................ 16
3.3.2 NoiseBD............................ 17
3.3.3 SquareBD ........................... 18
3.4 Snaredrums............................... 18
3.4.1 BasicSN ............................ 18
3.4.2 MarchingSN.......................... 19
3.4.3 AnalogSN ........................... 20
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3.5 Cymbals................................. 21
3.5.1 Hihats.............................. 21
3.5.2 Ridecymbal .......................... 22
3.5.3 Crashcymbal.......................... 24
3.6 Claps .................................. 25
3.7 Toms................................... 25
3.7.1 AnalogTom .......................... 25
3.7.2 Tenordrum ........................... 26
3.8 Miscellaneous.............................. 28
3.8.1 Rimshot............................. 28
3.8.2 Rattle.............................. 28
3.8.3 Cowbell............................. 29
3.9 Modulations............................... 30
4 Drum sequencer 32
4.1 16 step, 64 step or 128 step sequencer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 Rec, Play, Rec Pause and Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.3 BPMandSwing............................. 33
4.4 Patternmode .............................. 34
4.5 Songmode ............................... 38
4.6 Synchronisation............................. 39
5 Menu Reference 41
5.1 Load................................... 41
5.2 Save................................... 42
5.3 Name .................................. 42
5.4 Init.................................... 42
5.5 Copy................................... 43
5.6 SystemSettings............................. 44
5.7 SysexDump............................... 45
5.8 Menuoverview ............................. 46
6 MIDI Implementation 47
6.1 Midichannel .............................. 47
6.2 MIDInotemapping........................... 47
6.3 MIDIcontrolchanges.......................... 49
6.4 MIDI program changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.5 MIDI implementation chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.6 MIDIcontrollerlist........................... 52
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1
Getting Started . . .
1.1 Overview
Thanks for buying a Modor DR-2!
The DR-2 is a digital 6 instrument drum machine with a 128 32nd note step se-
quencer. Soundwise, the DR-2’s digital drum models offer a lot of sound sculpting
flexibility. It is not based on samples or analog circuits, the DR-2 is actually a real
digital DSP drum synthesizer. It has the sound editing knobs like on a synthesizer, but
with digital synthesis algorithms that are aimed towards drum synthesis.
The DR-2 also has extensive sequencing possibilities. It has a 32nd-note resolution
and there is the possibility to program accents, flams (double hits) and tuplets (multiple
hits), silences (breaks) and reversing (backwards running) drum sounds.
1.2 Patterns, songs and drumsets
The Modor DR-2 has an internal sequencer, that plays PATTERN or SONG structures,
controlling the internal drum synthesizer. The synthesizer creates drum sounds using
the sound parameters stored in DRUMSETS. These are the 3 different kinds of ’data
structures’ you’ll meet working with the DR-2.
•A PATTERN is the collection of (up to) 128 steps of sequencer data of the six
instruments, including accents, flams, breaks and reverse notes.
•A SONG is a string or loop of up to 112 patterns.
•A DRUMSET is a set of sound synthesis parameters for the six drum instruments
A-F.
So, the DR-2 consists of two main components: the drum synthesizer, and the
drum sequencer. The internal drum synthesizer and its drumsets, are not related to
the internal sequencer and its patterns and songs. So you can play any pattern or song
using any drumset. But also, this means after restarting your DR-2 you’ll have to load
both the pattern/song and the drumset separately to restart where you left before. If you
save a pattern or song after editing, the drumset is not saved along. You have to save it
separately if you want to store it!
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1.3. CONNECTIONS CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . .
By pressing the PATTERN, SONG or DRUMSET buttons, you go into pattern,
song or drumset mode. This is important in the menu for loading, saving, initialising
and renaming items.
1.3 Connections
Before you can start playing the Modor DR-2 a few connections have to be made. This
chapter is written to help you make the first connections so that you can immediately
start playing your instrument. By following these instructions, you will have your
Modor drum machine up and running in a few minutes time.
Main Audio Connections The main stereo output of the Modor DR-2 is found on
the L/PHON and R/MONO connectors on the backside of the instrument. Connect
the DR-2 to an external amplifier or mixing device with two mono 6mm jack cables.
The external amplifier or mixing device should be switched off before making this
connection, and only be switched on after the connection has been made to prevent
damage to the equipment.
You can also connect headphones to the L/PHON audio connector with a 6mm
TRS-connector. The signal is strong enough to drive a pair of headphones, although it
may be not loud enough to be used in noisy environments.
Channel Audio Connections The Modor DR-2 has six drum channels that can be
sent to the main L/R mix, but can also be sent out using the A-F connectors on the
backside. If you insert a mono 6mm jack connector into one of these connectors, this
channel is taken out of the main stereo mix on the L/R connectors and can be treated
separately on an external mixing desk.
However, these connectors can also be used as so-called ’insert’ points. Using a
6mm TRS connector you can send a channel out for external treatment, some effect for
example, and have it returned back into the DR-2. It then passes the stereo panning and
is mixed into the main L/R output.
Clock Syncronisation The DR-2 has CLK IN and CLK OUT connectors for 24PPQN
clock signals. You can use the DR-2 as a clock master or clock slave to synchronise
with other systems.
MIDI Connection The DR-2 has an internal drum sequencer, but it can also be con-
trolled by an external keyboard or (computer) sequencer via a MIDI connection. Chap-
ter 6 indicates which notes (note numbers) to send. Connect the MIDI output of this
external midi source to the MIDI IN connector on the backside of the Modor DR-2.
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1.4. PATTERN PROGRAMMING CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . .
The patterns generated by the internal sequencer, can also be sent out via the MIDI
OUT connector as MIDI note messages, along with the knob movements of the sound
parameters as MIDI control messages.
Power Connection Finally, the Modor DR-2 has to receive power via the power
connector. Connect the adaptor, and turn the volume knob (POW/VOL) on the upper
left corner of the front panel clockwise to get the instrument running. Theoretically,
any 9V DC-adaptor with 9W power (1000mA) will be sufficient, but there are many
DC-adaptors around providing unstable or even plain wrong electrical tensions. Only
use the DC-adaptor delivered with the Modor DR-2 or refer to a specialised electronics
dealer. Damage to the instrument caused by using a wrong adaptor is excluded from
any warranty regulation.
1.4 Pattern programming
Programming basic patterns on the DR-2 is quite simple. Push the A-F buttons to select
an instrument and hit the 1-16 buttons to toggle drum hits. Then press play to hear the
pattern you programmed. That’s the basic pattern programming as can be found on
many classic drum machines. You can also live record patterns by pushing REC and
PLAY, and then playing the A-F buttons along. However, there is more about pattern
programming on the DR-2:
Accents can be programmed by keeping the ACC button pressed
while programming drum hits with the 1-16 buttons.
Accents can also be programmed in a separate accent track for
all instruments simultaneously. Just press the ACC button to
access the accent track.
Reverses can be programmed by keeping the REV button
pressed and hitting 1-16.
Breaks or instrument silences can be programmed by keeping
the BREAK button pressed and hitting 1-16.
Flams or double hits can be programmed by keeping the FLAM
button pressed and hitting 1-16. .
Tuplets or multiple hits can be programmed by keeping the
SHIFT+FLAM buttons pressed and hitting 1-16.
β-variations Every instrument has two separate tracks to pro-
gram αand βdrum hits. The αand βdrum sounds are identical,
except for one sound parameter.
•Set the reverse delay with REV+(SWING/)VALUE
•Set the flam speed with FLAM+(SWING/)VALUE
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1.5. MODULATIONS CHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . .
•Set the tuplet balance, number and speed with SHIFT+FLAM+Y/Z/T
1.5 Modulations
You can bring a lot more ’life’ in your drum riffs by using modulations that avoid every
drum to sound exactly identical. There are 4 different ways of modulation:
•Velocity or accents: keep the VELOCITY button pressed and turn one of a
drum’s parameter knobs. Now this parameter is connected to velocity modu-
lation. When playing notes with different velocity or accent you’ll hear a differ-
ence in sound. Velocity can be connected to the volume parameter and one extra
parameter per drum. Double click VELOCITY to remove this extra modulation.
•Random: press the RANDOM button and turn one of a drum’s parameter knobs.
Now you’ll hear a random variation of this parameter with every drum hit. Ran-
dom can be connected to one parameter per drum. Double click RANDOM to
remove this modulation.
•Definable: press the DEF button and turn one of a drum’s parameter knobs. Now
the DEF-knob above the instrument’s slider can be used to vary this parameter.
Definable knobs can be connected to one parameter per drum. Double click DEF
to remove this modulation.
•Alpha/Beta: press the β-button and turn one of a drum’s parameter knobs. Now
you have a β-variation of this instrument. β-variations can be connected to one
parameter per drum. The sequencer has separate tracks for the αand βvaria-
tions, press αor βto program α/βdrum hits.
1.6 Menu navigation
The menu of the Modor DR-2 consists of 7 menu items. When the MENU/YES button
is hit you enter the menu, and the first menu item is shown on the upper display line.
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1.7. LOADING PATTERNS, SONGS AND DRUMSETSCHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . .
A black dot starts running from right to left over the display. By pressing MENU/YES
again before the dot reaches the left side of the screen, the next menu item is selected.
If you stop hitting MENU/YES, after about 1 sec the black dot reaches the left side of
the display, and you enter the indicated menu. Following menus can be entered:
1. LOAD: Load a pattern, drumset or song from internal memory
2. SAVE: Save a pattern, drumset or song into the internal memory
3. NAME: Give your pattern, drumset or song a name
4. COPY: An easy way to copy data between different parts of a pattern, or different
instruments in a drumset.
5. INIT: Initialize a pattern, drumset or song
6. SONG EDIT: Edit the order of patterns in a song.
7. SYSTEM SETTINGS: To set some global system parameters
8. MIDI DUMP: Dump the memory contents of the DR-2 using Midi Sysex mes-
sages
Next, after entering a certain menu, data can be selected and altered using the SE-
LECT(/BPM) encoder and VALUE(/SWING) control. Sometimes you need to validate
your choice by pressing the MENU/YES button again, or you might need to cancel your
choice by using EXIT/NO. While in the menu, on any moment you can press EXIT/NO
to cancel and leave the menu. A full item-by-item reference of the complete menu can
be found in chapter 5.
Note: the SONG EDIT menu can only be entered when you are in Song mode, it
is skipped otherwise. Press the SONG button to get into song mode. You can also
doubleclick the SONG button as a shortcut to the SONG EDIT menu.
1.7 Loading patterns, songs and drumsets
1.7.1 ... from the menu
Press PATTERN, SONG or DRUMSET, hit the MENU/YES button 1 time and wait 2
seconds to enter the LOAD menu. You should see the following screen: On the first
line you see ”LOAD” to indicate you are in the LOAD menu and PATTERN, SONG or
DRUMSET to indicate in which mode you are. On the second line you see the active
pattern, song or drumset number and name.
You can now scan through all the available patterns, songs or drumsets in the
Modor’s memory using the SELECT and VALUE controls. Confirm your choice with
SRC/YES.
If you are loading drumsets, the selected drumset can be heard when playing the
DR-2. This way you can listen to the drumsets in the memory without loosing your
actual work, and compare your active drumset to any drumset in the Modor DR-2’s
memory.
You can push DEST/NO at any time to cancel the load operation and return to the
situation where you left before.
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1.8. SAVING PATTERNS, SONGS AND DRUMSETSCHAPTER 1. GETTING STARTED . . .
1.7.2 ... from the frontpanel
However, there is a much easier and more straightforward way to load patterns, songs
and drumsets. Keep the PATTERN, SONG or DRUMSET button pressed, while you
hit one of the 1-16, 17-32, 33-48, 49-64 buttons and then one of the 1-16 step buttons.
For example [PATTERN] + 17-32 + 5 loads pattern Pt21 (16+5). [DRUMSET] + 33-
48 + 13 loads drumset Dr45 (32+13). That’s a lot quicker to switch between drumsets,
patterns or songs. The downside of this for drumsets is that your actual drumset gets
immediately overwritten, you can’t use it to compare your actual drumset to a stored
drumset in memory.
1.8 Saving patterns, songs and drumsets
Saving goes more or less identically to menu loading: now press the MENU button
twice within one second to enter the SAVE menu. Select a slot in the memory using
the SELECT and/or VALUE controls. This slot will be overwritten with the actual
pattern, song or drumset if you now hit SRC/YES to confirm.
When you play the DR-2 during the save operation for drumsets, you can hear the
drumset in the Modor DR-2’s memory that’s about to be overwritten. This way you
can check which memory position can be overwritten before actually doing it.
Hitting DEST/NO at any time cancels the save operation and exits the menu of the
Modor DR-2.
1.9 Initialisation
How to reinitialise the actual drumset or pattern? If you want to start building up a new
drumset completely from scratch, this might be helpful. Select Pattern/Drumset/Song
with the respective button, and quickly hit the MENU/YES button four times to select
the INIT-menu and wait one second to select it (the black dot reaches the left side of
the screen). Confirm with SRC/YES (or cancel with DEST/NO).
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