Robotic Bean Creative TM-1 User manual

User Guide

Version 1.0.0

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Contents

Introduction 3...........................................................................................................

Getting Started 3......................................................................................................

The Front Panel 4.....................................................................................................

The Back Panel 5.....................................................................................................

How TM-1 works in detail 6.....................................................................................

Note setting 6........................................................................................................

Audition 6...............................................................................................................

Mute and Solo 6....................................................................................................

Triggers vs Gates 6...............................................................................................

Multiplexing 7.........................................................................................................

Bouncing a pattern to a Note Clip 8.......................................................................

Recording a pattern to a Note Clip live 8...............................................................

Remote Implementation Chart 9.............................................................................

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Introduction

TM-1 Trigger Multiplexer takes individual gate triggers from rack sequencers and sends them to

the standard Note CV and Gate pair used by almost all instruments in Reason. This opens up a lot

more drum sounds to use with your rack sequencer, including any VST or hardware instrument that

triggers via note numbers.

Besides high quality multiplexing, TM-1 offers creative possibilities with individual mute and solo for

each channel, patches with mute and solo states saved, and automatable note number

assignments.

Getting Started

The ﬁrst step is to route all gate outputs in your rack sequencer to TM-1. Since this can be quite

tedious, TM-1 comes with pre-routed Combi patches for most popular sequencers. So start by

checking if there is a Combinator patch for your sequencer already.

Next, create the drum instrument you want to use, and connect the Note and Gate CV outputs on

TM-1 to the corresponding inputs on your instrument.

Different instrument devices map their sounds to different MIDI keys, so there’s no universal key

mapping that ﬁts all of them. But the default mapping covers the majority (starting at the C1 key),

and we’ve included plenty of alternative preset mappings in the patch folder.

You can of course change the notes on each channel manually, either by dragging the note value

with the mouse or by holding the LRN button and playing the desired note on your MIDI keyboard.

Now you are ready to start drumming!!

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The Front Panel

These are the controls on the TM-1 front panel:

Patch browser

Here you can load and save patches. Apart from the channel names and note

numbers, mute and solo states are also saved in the patch, which opens up

some creative possibilities for live use.

Audition

When this is active, changing the note for a channel (by dragging the note

number) also triggers the note on the CV outputs. This makes it easier to ﬁnd

the correct note.

Enable outputs

Turns the outputs ON and OFF. Can be used as a mute button for the entire

device. This button can be automated.

Clear Mute / Solo

Clicking these turns all active mutes or solos off.

For each channel 1-16:

Name label

Here you can enter custom names for each channel, like “Kick” etc, by double-

clicking the display.

Note setting

Click and drag on the note value to change it. You have access to the full MIDI

range, C-2 to G8. If you hold down the Shift key while dragging, you will browse

through the note values more slowly.

The note setting can be automated.

Learn note (LRN)

Click and hold this button to enter MIDI learn mode. While the button is held,

you can set the note value for the channel by playing notes on your MIDI

keyboard.

You can make sure that TM-1 is receiving MIDI from your keyboard by clicking

on its Master Keyboard Input tab.

Mute (M)

Click this button to toggle Mute for the channel.

The Mute setting can be automated.

Solo (S)

Click this button to toggle the Solo setting for the channel, muting all other

channels that are not currently being soloed.

The Solo setting can be automated.

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The Back Panel

These are the controls on the TM-1 back panel:

Name labels 1-16

Text labels where you can give each channel a descriptive name if you want.

Double-click to edit.

Gate inputs 1-16

Connect your sequencer gate outputs here.

Activity LEDs 1-16

Lights up whenever the corresponding channel is triggered, either via the gate

input or via the corresponding MIDI key.

Gate and Note outputs

Connect your drum instrument here.

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How TM-1 works in detail

In the following paragraphs we describe in more detail how the different features in TM-1 work.

Note setting

Each channel 1-16 has a note setting (ranging from C-2 to G8), which is encoded into the note CV

output when triggered. This is how you decide which MIDI note to send your trigger to.

There are three ways of setting this:

1. By clicking and dragging in the note ﬁeld on the front panel, using Shift to browse more

accurately

2. By clicking and holding the LRN (Learn) button in the channel display, and then pressing

the desired note on your MIDI keyboard

3. Via Remote control over “Channel NNote”

Audition

When Audition is set to ON, changing notes with the mouse also triggers the note. This makes it

easier to ﬁnd the right note. Triggers will not be sent when the note is changed using automation or

via Remote. For Remote however, you can audition the notes if you press the assigned “Channel N

Trigger” button while changing note.

Mute and Solo

Each channel has its own mute and solo buttons. These work exactly like in Reason’s mixers and

tracks. Their states are stored when you save a patch, which can be handy for live use. They can

also be automated and Remote controlled.

There are also Clear buttons for both mutes and solos. Clicking these resets all mute and solos to

OFF. For technical reasons, these can’t be Remote-controlled. However, they can be automated,

although the automation data will be spread out over the individual automation lanes of each

affected channel.

Triggers vs Gates

TM-1 is a trigger multiplexer. So what is the difference between a trigger and a gate? Gates can

vary in length, typically while a key is held, while a trigger is a very short peak. TM-1 analyses the

signals on the CV inputs, and will generate a trigger everytime the signal goes from 0 or below to a

positive value. That positive value determines the amplitude of the trigger. The triggers generated

by TM-1 last about 10ms.

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Gate

Trigger

Multiplexing

TM-1 combines the 16 trigger CV signals into a single gate and note CV pair using multiplexing. So

what is multiplexing?

This is what Wikipedia says:

In!telecommunications!and!computer networks,!multiplexing!(sometimes contracted

to!muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into

one signal over a!shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource.

In our case, the scarce resource is the single monophonic gate/note CV interface, where gate CV

determines the velocity and note CV determines the pitch.

So how do we send more than one trigger at a time over a monophonic CV interface? Well, we

can’t. But we can trigger the notes so closely together that they sound like they are triggered at

the same time. TM-1 triggers the notes 64 samples apart, or about 1.5ms at 44.1kHz sample rate.

Although we can add new overlapping triggers while others are playing, due to limitations in the

gate/note interface, we have to release them all at the same time. TM-1 makes sure that all

triggers have lasted at least 10ms before releasing the gate.

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Multiplex

Gate 1

Gate 2

Gate 3 Gate

Note

Min 10ms

Lower channels have priority

Bouncing a pattern to a Note Clip

Sometimes when you’ve created a cool rhythm pattern on your sequencer devices, you might want

to render it to a note clip in Reason’s main sequencer for further editing. You can do this pretty

easily using TM-1!

1. Wrap your instrument in a Combinator, by right-clicking it and selecting Combine. If your

instrument is a Combinator, then just leave it as it is.

2. Add a Player device (for example Note Echo) to the instrument inside the Combinator. Make

sure the Player device is turned off.

3. Connect the Gate and Note CV outputs of TM-1 to the corresponding inputs on the

Combinator.

4. Select the start and end of the note clip using the L and R locator in Reason’s sequencer.

5. Click the “Send to track” button above the Player device.#

A note clip will now be created on the note lane of the instrument (the one that you connected

the player to). If your instrument was a Combinator from the beginning, you might want to drag

the note clip to the note lane of the Combinator instead.

6. To avoid double notes being triggered when playing back, disconnect TM-1 from the

Combinator, or turn it off by clicking on the Enable Outputs button.

You can repeat the process if you want to redo the take or render more patterns. Just remember to

make sure that the “Bypass All” button above the Players is turned off. It will be enabled

automatically each time you render.

Recording a pattern to a Note Clip live

You can also use the Direct Record function on the Player to record the pattern in real time. This is

handy if you want to tweak your rack sequencers live while recording to the note clip.

1. Make sure your instrument is wrapped in a Combinator

2. Add a Player device to the instrument inside the Combinator, and make sure the Player is

turned off

3. Make sure TM-1 is connected to the Gate/Note CV inputs of the Combinator

4. Activate Direct Record on the Player

5. Arm the instrument’s rack for recording in the main sequencer

6. Click the Record button in Reason to start recording

7. Click the Stop button when you’re done

8. To avoid double notes being triggered when playing back, disconnect TM-1 from the

Combinator, or simply turn it off by clicking the Enable Outputs button.

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Remote Implementation Chart

// Remote Map template for Utilities Robotic Bean AB: TM-1 Trigger Multiplexer

// Version 1.0.0

Scope Robotic Bean com.roboticbean.TriggerMultiplexer

// Control Surface Item Key Remotable Item Scale Mode

//Map _control_ Enable Outputs

//Map _control_ Audition

//Map _control_ Channel 1 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 2 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 3 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 4 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 5 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 6 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 7 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 8 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 9 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 10 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 11 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 12 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 13 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 14 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 15 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 16 Note

//Map _control_ Channel 1 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 2 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 3 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 4 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 5 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 6 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 7 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 8 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 9 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 10 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 11 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 12 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 13 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 14 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 15 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 16 Trigger

//Map _control_ Channel 1 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 2 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 3 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 4 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 5 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 6 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 7 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 8 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 9 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 10 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 11 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 12 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 13 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 14 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 15 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 16 Mute

//Map _control_ Channel 1 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 2 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 3 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 4 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 5 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 6 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 7 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 8 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 9 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 10 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 11 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 12 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 13 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 14 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 15 Solo

//Map _control_ Channel 16 Solo

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//Map _output_ Channel 1 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 2 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 3 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 4 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 5 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 6 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 7 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 8 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 9 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 10 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 11 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 12 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 13 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 14 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 15 Activity

//Map _output_ Channel 16 Activity

The Remote map template can also be downloaded as a text ﬁle from TM-1’s home page at

http://roboticbean.com/creative/products/tm-1/

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