Audio Tattoo User Manual

Tattoo User’s Guide

Audio Damage, Inc.
Release 1.0

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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on
the part of Audio Damage, Inc. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement
and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this
publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior

written permission by Audio Damage, Inc.

Audio Unit, Macintosh, and OS X are trademarks of Apple Inc. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media
Technologies GmbH. TR-606, TR-808, TR-909 and DR-110 are trademarks of Roland Corporation. All other
product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Roland Corporation had nothing to do with the creation of the software described in this document. The use of
the trademarked names of their drum machines is intended for purposes of comparison only.

© 2010 Audio Damage, Inc.

All rights reserved.

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License Agreement

BY INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT
AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, THEN RETURN THE PRODUCT TO THE PLACE OF
PURCHASE FOR A FULL REFUND.

Single User License Grant: Audio Damage, Inc. ("Audio Damage") and its suppliers grant to Customer
("Customer") a nonexclusive and nontransferable license to use the Audio Damage software ("Software") in
object code form solely on a single central processing unit owned or leased by Customer.

Customer may make one (1) archival copy of the Software provided Customer affixes to such copy all
copyright, confidentiality, and proprietary notices that appear on the original.

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED ABOVE, CUSTOMER SHALL NOT: COPY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART,
SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION; MODIFY THE SOFTWARE; REVERSE COMPILE OR REVERSE ASSEMBLE ALL
OR ANY PORTION OF THE SOFTWARE; OR RENT, LEASE, DISTRIBUTE, SELL, OR CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS
OF THE SOFTWARE.

Customer agrees that aspects of the licensed materials, including the specific design and structure of
individual programs, constitute trade secrets and/or copyrighted material of Audio Damage. Customer agrees
not to disclose, provide, or otherwise make available such trade secrets or copyrighted material in any form to
any third party without the prior written consent of Audio Damage. Customer agrees to implement reasonable
security measures to protect such trade secrets and copyrighted material. Title to Software and
documentation shall remain solely with Audio Damage.

LIMITED WARRANTY. Audio Damage warrants that for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of shipment
from Audio Damage: (i) the media on which the Software is furnished will be free of defects in materials and
workmanship under normal use; and (ii) the Software substantially conforms to its published specifications.
Except for the foregoing, the Software is provided AS IS. This limited warranty extends only to Customer as
the original licensee. Customer's exclusive remedy and the entire liability of Audio Damage and its suppliers
under this limited warranty will be, at Audio Damage or its service center's option, repair, replacement, or
refund of the Software if reported (or, upon request, returned) to the party supplying the Software to
Customer. In no event does Audio Damage warrant that the Software is error free or that Customer will be
able to operate the Software without problems or interruptions.

This warranty does not apply if the software (a) has been altered, except by Audio Damage, (b) has not been
installed, operated, repaired, or maintained in accordance with instructions supplied by Audio Damage, (c) has

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been subjected to abnormal physical or electrical stress, misuse, negligence, or accident, or (d) is used in
ultrahazardous activities.

DISCLAIMER. EXCEPT AS SPECIFIED IN THIS WARRANTY, ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS,
REPRESENTATIONS, AND WARRANTIES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT OR ARISING FROM A
COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE, ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY
APPLICABLE LAW.

IN NO EVENT WILL AUDIO DAMAGE OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT, OR
DATA, OR FOR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER
CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO
USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF AUDIO DAMAGE OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF SUCH DAMAGES. In no event shall Audio Damage's or its suppliers' liability to Customer, whether in
contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, exceed the price paid by Customer. The foregoing
limitations shall apply even if the above-stated warranty fails of its essential purpose. SOME STATES DO NOT
ALLOW LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES.

The above warranty DOES NOT apply to any beta software, any software made available for testing or
demonstration purposes, any temporary software modules or any software for which Audio Damage does not
receive a license fee. All such software products are provided AS IS without any warranty whatsoever.

This License is effective until terminated. Customer may terminate this License at any time by destroying all
copies of Software including any documentation. This License will terminate immediately without notice from
Audio Damage if Customer fails to comply with any provision of this License. Upon termination, Customer
must destroy all copies of Software.

Software, including technical data, is subject to U.S. export control laws, including the U.S. Export
Administration Act and its associated regulations, and may be subject to export or import regulations in other
countries. Customer agrees to comply strictly with all such regulations and acknowledges that it has the
responsibility to obtain licenses to export, re-export, or import Software.

This License shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Colorado, United
States of America, as if performed wholly within the state and without giving effect to the principles of conflict
of law. If any portion hereof is found to be void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of this License
shall remain in full force and effect. This License constitutes the entire License between the parties with
respect to the use of the Software.

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Credits

Software Design and Construction, Documentation

Chris Randall
Adam Schabtach

Field Testing

Wade Alin
Rob Cosh
Sean Costello
Carl Downing
Steve Hamann
Jeff Laity

Made Possible By

Elle
Tracie

Fuzzy Logic

Alfred
Chica
Edwin
Madeline
Pablo
Widget
Zed

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Welcome

Thank you for purchasing Tattoo, Audio Damage's drum synthesizer and sequencer. With twelve voices
inspired by the famous X0X series of analog drum machines and an internal sequencer that is second to none,
Tattoo makes an excellent addition to the arsenal for any electronic music producer.

Each of the twelve internal voices has been created using our proprietary D-Plane synthesis, and each has
been extensively tested and tuned in order to have a broad palette. Every parameter of every voice has its
own modulation sequencer, allowing for extensive motion within a pattern.

The grid sequencer in Tattoo is a whole world unto itself, with comprehensive randomization features and
multiple sync modes, including a MIDI note sync to enable use with virtually any time signature, groove
template, or host swing. The sequencer has MIDI out (VST only) to drive other sound sources, to double or
replace Tattoo's internal sounds.

In short, Tattoo is more than a simple drum synth; it is a complete rhythm programming environment , a
fantasy come true for any fan of vintage drum machines. We hope you enjoy your purchase, and once you've
had a browse around the user interface, please take the time to come back and read this manual to learn how
to fully exploit the feature set of Tattoo.

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System Requirements

To use Tattoo, you'll need a Steinberg VST-compatible host application which conforms to the VST 2.0
specifications, and a computer capable of running it. For the Audio Unit version of Tattoo, you’ll need an
application capable of hosting Audio Unit plug-ins, and a computer capable of running it.

We support the use of Tattoo under Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7; and Apple OS X version 10.4
or newer.

Installation

Installation is straightforward: Double-click the Tattoo Installer icon and follow the instructions. During the
installation process the installer will ask you to enter your registration code. Your registration code uniquely
identifies your purchase, and you will need it if you need to reinstall your plug-in (for example, after
upgrading to a new computer). Keep a copy of the code in a safe location and please don’t share it with your
friends. We’re delighted if you like our products so much that you want to share them, but please ask your
friends to buy their own copy so that we can keep making cool new products.

To un-install from OS X, simply delete the plug-in from your VST folder, which is usually located at

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Audio Damage, and your Audio Units folder, which is located at
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/. To un-install from Windows, delete the plug-in from your VST

folder, which is usually at C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins\Audio Damage.

Note for MacOS X users: you must be logged in to a user account with administration privileges to run the
Tattoo installer.

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Overview

Here is a picture of Tattoo’s editor window with labels of the sections we’ll describe in the following text:

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Pattern Sequencer

The Sequencer section of Tattoo is the answer to Bootsy Collins' immortal question: "where the party at,
y'all?" at least in the context of this particular instrument. The Sequencer entire consists of the grid that
controls playback of the voices, which we have conveniently named "Sequencer," and the many Mod
Sequencers, which modulate the individual parameters of each voice, as well as controlling the velocity of
individual events.

The main grid should be a fairly obvious paradigm for anyone remotely familiar with electronic music
production, as it is one of the more common ways to create a linear pattern of music. As such, we won't dwell
on the basic tenets of grid (or "piano roll") sequencing. Tattoo's grid sequencer is both incredibly simple in
operation and quite deep in its feature set, and the following sections deal with its dedicated controls. The Mod
Sequencer is joined at the hip with the Sequencer, but has enough features of its own to warrant a separate
chapter.

If you’re really starting from scratch with grid-based composition: time moves from left to right on the grid.
Each horizontal position represents one step in the pattern. Each row represents one instrument; the names
of the instruments appear on the left. Click somewhere on the grid and a white square will appear. This means
that the instrument in that square’s row will play when the sequencer reaches the square’s horizontal position.
Click the square again to make it go away. You can drag horizontally to turn a number of squares on or off at
once.

Pattern Controls

The pattern controls let you switch between the 16 pattern memories present in Tattoo, copy and paste
patterns, and set the step and sequence length of the pattern.

Selector

The pattern selector is the row of 16 numbers beneath the words “Pattern Control” near the lower center of
Tattoo’s window. Tattoo can contain up to 16 independent patterns at a time. Clicking the pattern selector
chooses the current pattern, i.e. the one you hear when Tattoo is playing and the one you can change by
clicking notes on and off in the note grid and manipulating the current instrument’s Channel Controls.

An orange square is drawn on top of the number of the current pattern. If Tattoo is not playing, the pattern
changes immediately when you click on the pattern selector. If Tattoo is playing when you click the pattern
selector, Tattoo waits until it reaches the end of the current pattern before switching to the new pattern. This

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enables Tattoo to stay in sync with the beat and bar of your music. You’ll see a grey square drawn on the
pattern selector after you click it, showing you the pattern that Tattoo will next play.

Clear

The Clear button erases all notes in the pattern grid. One click and boom, they’re all gone. Use with caution.

Copy

The Copy button makes a copy of the current pattern, including both the contents of the pattern grid and the
settings of all of the Channel Controls for all of the instruments. This copy is retained inside Tattoo in a special
place that we’ll call the copy buffer for lack of a better name.

Paste

The Paste button overwrites the current pattern, including both the contents of the pattern grid and the
settings of all of the Channel Controls for all of the instruments, with the contents of the copy buffer. Together
the Copy and Paste buttons let you easily duplicate a pattern and/or move it between any of the 16 pattern
memories. Click the Copy button to make copy of the current pattern, click a destination pattern on the
pattern selector, then click Paste to place a copy of the original pattern in the new location. The first pattern
is left unchanged.

Step Size

The Step Size popup menu determines both how many steps the current pattern has and the rhythmic value
of each step (relative to your host program’s sense of time). There are several choices: 1x32, 2x16, 1x16T,
1x16, and 1x8T where ‘T’ is used to denote triplet values. The choices indicate the length of the pattern and
the rhythmic value as shown in this table:

Setting Step Value Steps per Pattern

1x32 1/32nd 32

2x16 1/16th 32

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1x16T 1/16th triplet 24

1x16 1/16th 16

1x8T 1/8th triplet 12

Channel Controls

The Channel Controls create random variations for each instrument. Each instrument has its own set of
channel controls. Click the name of an instrument in the list on the left of the pattern grid to choose which
instrument is affected by the channel controls. The current instrument’s name is shown in bright white while
the other names are shown in grey.

Channel controls are stored within the pattern memories. When you change patterns the channel controls
change also. This lets you create similar patterns with variations created by different settings of the channel
controls.

Clear

The Clear button erases all of the notes for the current instrument. Of course you can also erase notes by
clicking and dragging back and forth in the pattern grid, but the Clear button does it all for you with one click.

Rand

Click the Rand button to randomly turn notes on and off for the current instrument. Each time you click the

Rand button, about half of the notes in the current instrument’s pattern will be turned on and about half will

be turned off.

RND RST

“RND RST” is an abbreviation for “randomize on reset”. When an instrument’s RND RST switch is turned on,
the instrument’s notes are randomized every time Tattoo reaches the beginning of the pattern. RND RST
creates the same result as if you clicked the Rand button exactly at the beginning of each measure as Tattoo
plays.

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