u-he Beat beatzille User manual

beatzille
modular FM & PD synthesizer
user guide
version 1.0.2, 22. July 2021!
u-he • Heckmann Audio GmbH • BERLIN

Introduction 4
Bazille vs BeatZille 4.................................................................
Resources 5..............................................................................
GUI Components 5...................................................................
MIDI Specialities 7....................................................................
The Control Bar 8.....................................................................
The Oscilloscope 9...................................................................
GUI Size 9................................................................................
Preset Browser 10
Overview 10..............................................................................
Directory Panel 11.....................................................................
Presets Panel 14......................................................................
Preset Info 16...........................................................................
Installing Soundsets 16.............................................................
Search 17.................................................................................
Oscillators 18
Pitch 19.....................................................................................
Phase / FM 20..........................................................................
Phase Distortion 21..................................................................
Fractal Resonance 22...............................................................
Outputs 22................................................................................
LFO 23
Filter 25
Envelopes 26
Outputs 27
Processors 28
Quantizer 28.............................................................................
Sample & Hold 28.....................................................................
Inverter 28.................................................................................
Rectifier 28................................................................................
Lag Generators 28....................................................................
Voice, Pitch and Glide 29
Voice 29....................................................................................
Pitch 30.....................................................................................
Glide 31....................................................................................

Mapping Generator 32
Multiplex 34
MIDI & More 36
Modulation Sequencer 37
Divide, Time and Trigger 37......................................................
Snapshot Dial / Rotate 38.........................................................
Snapshot Values 39..................................................................
How to Trigger Envelopes 40....................................................
Delay 41
Configuration 42
MIDI Control 42.........................................................................
Preferences 44.........................................................................
Tips & Tricks 46
General Tips 46........................................................................
Oscillator Tricks 46....................................................................
Filter Tricks 47...........................................................................
Mapping Tricks 48.....................................................................
Processor Tricks 48..................................................................
Multiplex Tricks 49....................................................................
Sequencer Tricks 50.................................................................

INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Bazille vs BeatZille
BeatZille is a functionally reduced ‘magware’ version of the mighty Bazille, courtesy of the German
music technology magazine BEAT (see link on the next page). Here are the main differences
between the full version available from the u-he website, and BeatZille:
Note: BeatZille presets can be loaded into Bazille, but not the other way round.
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Bazille
BeatZille
Oscillators
4
2
Filters
4
1
LFOs
2
1
Envelopes
4, with Fall / Rise range control
2, no F/R range
Ramp Generators
2
0
Modulation Mapper
2
1
Dual Lag Generators
2
1
Effects
Distortion, Delay, Phaser, Spring Reverb
Delay only
HQ mode
YES
NO
Multicore mode
YES
NO
Maximum polyphony
16
8
Stacking
up to 8 voices
NO
Microtuning
.TUN and MTS-ESP
MTS-ESP only
Preset Tagging
YES
NO
Preset Favourites
8 colour coded ‘Favourites’ smart folders
Favourite 1 only

INTRODUCTION
Resources
Beat magazin https://www.beat.de/thema/magazin
u-he online
•For downloads, news articles and support, go to the u-he website
•For lively discussions about u-he products, go to the u-he forum
•For friendship and informal news updates, go to our facebook page
•For video tutorials and more, go to our youtube channel
u-he team 2021 (Q3)
•Urs Heckmann (boss code, concepts)
•Jayney Klimek (office management)
•Howard Scarr (user guides, presets, necessary grump)
•Rob Clifton-Harvey (IT admin, backend development)
•Sebastian Greger (GUI design, 3D stuff)
•Jan Storm (framework, more code)
•Alexandre Bique (all things Linux)
•Oddvar Manlig (business development)
•Viktor Weimer (support, presets, the voice)
•Thomas Binek (QA, bug-hunting, presets)
•Henna Gramentz (office supervision, support)
•Frank Hoffmann (framework, new browser)
•Alf Klimek (tagging, rock-stardom, studio)
•Sebastian Hübert (media, synthwave)
•David Schornsheim (more code)
•Stephan Eckes (yet more code)
•Luca Christakopoulos (communication design)
GUI Components
Knobs and sliders
There are two types of controls: unipolar and bipolar. Unipolar knobs and sliders only allow
positive values, while the bipolar knobs and sliders allow negative values, often within a range
of -100 to +100. In the above image (the oscillator tuning controls) you can easily see that the
Tune knob is unipolar (it starts at zero), while the Modify knob is bipolar. Note: while envelope
sliders are unipolar, the sequencer sliders are bipolar.
All knobs and sliders react as follows:
•Coarse control: Click+hold with the left mouse button, then drag up or down.
•Fine control: For 0.01 steps, hold down one of the SHIFT keys beforehand.
•Mouse wheel: If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can hover over the knob/slider and roll
the wheel. For finer control, hold down a SHIFT key. If your mouse wheel has noticeable
‘grains’ when rolled, set the Mouse Wheel Raster option in the Configuration page to ‘on’.
•Reset to default value: Double-clicking a knob reverts to a useful default value, often zero.!
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INTRODUCTION
Selectors
The orange-on-black text fields contain a list of options. Click on a selector to open the list, or
roll your mouse wheel to scroll through the values or options.
Sockets and cables
BeatZille modules are connected together (‘patched’) using virtual cables. The sockets are
colour-coded: inputs are grey while outputs are red – worth remembering!
To make a connection, drag and drop between an output and an input socket (either direction
will work). Outputs will happily accommodate several cables, while inputs will accept just one –
the new connection will simply replace the existing one.
As a rule, you can’t connect two inputs together, but there’s actually an exception: Dragging a
cable from an unused input to another that is already in use creates a so-called ‘daisy chain’ –
the source is patched to both inputs, the signal is passed on from one input to the next. Try it!
Click on a socket / the end of a cable for the following functions:
•move inputs – drag+drop from the used input to a different socket.
•duplicate cable – as above, but shift+drag+drop: creates a new cable from the same output.
•move the output – right-click on the output end, drag+drop onto a different output. "
Note: While dragging you will see a straight line connected to the original output sockets.
•remove cables – either double-click the input end, or drag+drop away from the input socket.
•change cable colour – click repeatedly (but slowly) on the input end until the cable has the
colour you want. Take care not to double-click, as this will remove the connection.
Right-click on any input socket, even if it is unused, to change the opacity and style (thickness)
of all cables. Note: These options are also available in the Preferences page.
Parameter locking
Lock any parameter by right-clicking on the knob / slider / selector. Important: You can still
adjust the value! The lock simply ensures that it won’t change when you switch presets. To
unlock again, right-click and untick ‘Locked’.
While the current implementation of parameter locking is useful for retaining e.g. Microtuning or
Fine tuning while changing presets, it is less suitable for values in the modulation sequencer, as
locking each one individually means working with up to 8 x 16 = 128 locks!
GUI size
Right-clicking anywhere in the background opens a context menu containing the user interface
size options as percentage and width x height in pixels. Please note, however, that setting the
size here is only temporary: To specify a default GUI size for each new instance of BeatZille, go
to the Preferences.!
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INTRODUCTION
Computer keyboard
The following modifier keys are used in the mapping generators and the patch browser:
MIDI Specialities
Multichannel MIDI
This feature supports a growing class of expressive ‘performance’ instruments that can send
each note via a separate MIDI channel. For Beatzille to respond correctly, the host application
needs to route multiple MIDI channels to a single instance of Beatzille. Each voice will then
react individually to the performance controls pitch bend, aftertouch, mod wheel, Control A and
Control B.
While multichannel MIDI is being received, voice modes Poly, Mono and Legato are practically
identical: Beatzille behaves like (up to) 16 mono synths with the same sound. Note that the
maximum number of Voices (see TWEAKS) still applies as voices can still be stolen across
multiple channels. The Duo mode is not channel-aware i.e. all MIDI channels are merged.
Single trigger modulation sources (e.g. LFOs with Phase mode set to ‘single’) will listen to the
channel of the first voice being played.
Poly pressure (polyphonic aftertouch)
As well as regular channel aftertouch, Beatzille also recognizes and reacts appropriately to
polyphonic aftertouch – each note within a chord will receive separate aftertouch data.
MTS-ESP
Beatzille now supports Oddsound MTS-ESP, a system for microtuning multiple plug-ins within a
DAW environment. The freeware ‘Mini’ version is all you need to get started. In the full version
of Bazille, MTS-ESP can be overridden by activating Bazille’s own microtuning, for instance with
the .tun file Default Scale.!
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Mac / macOS
PC / Windows
shift = shift, ⇧
shift = shift, ⇧
opt = option, ⌥, alt, alternate
ctrl = control
cmd = command, ⌘, apple…
alt = alternate

INTRODUCTION
The Control Bar
Along the top and in both side panels are several ‘global’ elements…
Page switches
In the lefthand side-panel are two vertical buttons used for selecting the following views:
SYNTH for sound design, with access to all parameters on a single page........................
PRESETS for loading / marking / moving presets, and for selecting the ‘current folder’...................
Note: The words ‘patch’ and ‘preset’ mean practically the same thing in this user guide!
MIDI
At the top left is an indicator which flashes whenever MIDI data is received.
Data display
The data display has several duties: It normally shows the name of the current patch. Clicking
on the triangles to the left and right steps backwards and forwards through all patches, and
clicking on the middle of the display lets you select a patch from the current folder.
While BeatZille is being edited, parameter names and values are displayed here. Whenever you
stop editing for a few seconds, the patch name reappears.
Initialize
To load a simple template, right-click on the data display and select init (initialize). If you want to
start from scratch every time you open an instance of BeatZille, save this under the name
default in the Local root directory.
Undo / redo
To the right is a pair of undo and redo buttons. Although the number of steps in the buffer is
limited, you can even undo a change of preset. Inadvertently switching presets doesn’t mean
that your work is lost – simply ‘undo’ the change!
Save
See Save in the section about the preset browser (two pages down).
Output
The main volume control and signal level / overload indicator. The indicator glows red if your
output signal is too loud (causing unwanted digital distortion).!
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INTRODUCTION
The u-he badge
Clicking on the u-he badge at the top right opens a popup menu containing direct links to this
user guide, to our homepage, to our support forum, and to various social networks.
The Oscilloscope
Check and adjust waveforms, monitor the effects of modulation or filtering, view envelope shapes
etc.. Or just watch it for the entertainment value!
The scope displays a mono sum of the output, before the Delay effect. The Frequency knob on the
left adjusts horizontal resolution, while the Scale knob on the right adjusts vertical resolution.
Right-click in the scope to select visual effects: glow, fire and wind add different fade-out effects at
the cost of some extra CPU. These modes are also a bit more sluggish than fast or eco.
GUI Size
Right-click anywhere in the background to adjust the size of BeatZille’s window in 10% steps. Note
however that setting the size here is only temporary: To specify a default GUI size for every new
instance of BeatZille, go to the Preferences.!
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PRESETS
Preset Browser
Overview
You can load presets in the current folder by clicking on the data display and selecting from the
menu, and step through them by clicking on the triangles next to the data display. However,
BeatZille also has a powerful browser – click the vertical [PATCHES] button on the far left…
Most of the GUI is replaced by a set of three connected panels: Folders appear on the left, presets
in the centre and information about the currently active preset on the right. If you can’t see the
folders 01 to 10, click on the triangle to the left of Local. If you can’t see the PRESET INFO pane at
all, click on the [≡]button in the top right and activate Show Preset Info.
The Local root directory contains a representative selection of presets copied from the subfolders.
Immediately after loading a preset (by clicking on its name) you can step through all the others
using your computer’s cursor keys.
Close the browser by clicking on the vertical [SYNTH] button on the far left.
Default preset
Whenever BeatZille starts it checks whether the Local root contains a preset called default, which
is then loaded instead of the demo preset. Note that default will not appear in the browser.!
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