Sonic Charge Microtonic User Manual

version 3.1

Table of Contents

..................................................................................Introduction! 3

.................................................................................Architecture! 4

..............................................................................User Interface! 6

..................................................................................Top Section! 7

..........................................................................Pattern Section! 19

...........................................................................Global Section! 23

..............................................................................Matrix Editor! 24

..................................................................Drum Patch Section! 11

...................................................................Open Preset Dialog! 25

..........................................................Open Drum Patch Dialog! 25

....................................................................Preferences Dialog! 26

....................................................................MIDI Config Dialog! 27

........................................................MIDI Controllers And Keys! 30

..........................................................................MIDI Keyboard! 31

..................................................................Computer Keyboard! 32

..........................................................................Change History! 32

............................................................................Requirements! 39

.................................................................Credits and Contacts! 39

......................................................Copyrights And Trademarks! 40

Introduction

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Welcome to Sonic Charge Microtonic, the synthetic rhythm generator.

Microtonic is a VST and AudioUnits compatible plug-in featuring a powerful

drum and percussion synthesizer combined with a pattern based drum
machine engine. You can use it as a conventional sound module to play drum
sounds from your MIDI keyboard or sequencer, or you can use the built-in
pattern engine to play drum patterns in sync with your sequencer.

In Microtonic, a single universal sound architecture is used to simulate a wide
variety of sounds. The parameters and the configuration of this architecture
has been carefully chosen to be as versatile as possible while still keeping

Microtonic simple and straightforward.

The sound of Microtonic is 100% synthetic and rendered in real-time. No
samples or pre-rendered waveforms are used. This means that you can modify
the sound in real-time with instantaneous response by turning and dragging

the knobs and faders of Microtonic. If your host supports parameter
automation, you can record all parameter changes in your host sequencer for
later playback with high accuracy.

1

Much work has been put into achieving optimal sound quality for Microtonic.
There are virtually no compromises to the sound it produces. The oscillators
are “over-sampled” and produce a clean sound without distortion or “aliasing”
even at extreme frequency settings. The filters and equalizers have a full
frequency response range and parameter changes are smooth and responsive.

The sound synthesis in Microtonic is based on a proprietary technique that
eliminates the need for low-resolution approximations and quantization. (This

technology also gives all parameters virtually unlimited resolution.)

Furthermore, the triggering of drums is sample-accurate2 and envelope
generators and modulators work at highest possible rate to give the sound a

distinct sharpness. Microtonic works in any sample rate of your choice. In
short, Microtonic delivers a quality that sets the standard for what synthetic

drums and percussions should sound like.

Thank you for choosing Microtonic, I trust that you will find it a valuable
addition to your palette of sounds.

/ Magnus Lidström

1

Some hosts do not support synchronization of plug-ins and in this case, the built-in pattern engine will be

disabled.

2

Timing accuracy may be affected by the precision of the host preset.

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Architecture

Sound Synthesizer

The sound engine of Microtonic offers eight channels of stereophonic sound (called

drum channels or simply channels). Each channel has its own set of parameters that

define its sound. Collectively these parameter settings constitute a drum patch. You
work with one channel at a time and you can load and save drum patches individu-

ally. (The file extension for a drum patch file is “.mtdrum”)

The parameters of a drum patch are organized into four main sections: the Mixing
Section, the Oscillator Section, the Noise Section and the Velocity Sensitivity

section (from left to right on the screen).

The Mixing Section is the final stage in the audio processing chain. It mixes the os­cillator and the noise generator and optionally distorts and equalizes the channel.
After this stage the audio from the various channels are mixed and sent to the host.

Microtonic plug-in comes installed in two different versions, the “standard version”

(“Microtonic”) which offers two assignable stereo outputs and the “multiple output

version” (“MicrotonicMulti”) which offers eight individual stereo outputs, one for
each drum channel.

The Oscillator produces a steady or pitch-modulated tone. The oscillator features
three different waveforms and typically provides the tonal quality and the pitch of a
drum sound. For example, a low-frequency tone with a quick drop in pitch is often
used to synthesize bass drums. A higher frequency setting and a slower drop in fre­quency can simulate the sound of a tuned drum like a tom. Other types of modula­tions can be used to create a vast variety of sounds.

The Noise Generator is used to add noisy elements to the sound. For example, it
can be a noisy punch sound, such as the sound of a hand or a drumstick hitting a

drum, or the sound of the vibrating snares on a snare drum. The noise generator

also features a stereo mode where two uncorrelated noise sources are used for
the left and right output channels. This mode creates a dispersed stereo effect

similar to the sound of a reverb. Furthermore, the noise section features a multi­mode filter with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes as well as an amplitude
envelope with different shapes allowing you to sculpt the noise just the way that fits
your sound.

Lastly, we have a Velocity Sensitivity Section that controls how MIDI velocity and
pattern accents affect the sound (see below for more info on pattern accents). You
have three different settings; two of which controls the volumes of the oscillator and
the noise respectively, and one that controls the amount of pitch modulation on the
oscillator.

Pattern Engine

The Pattern Engine plays rhythmic patterns in sync with your host preset (that is, if

your host supports tempo and song position synchronization of plug-ins). You have

12 different patterns to choose from, labeled A to L. Each pattern consists of up to
16 steps and you may chain them in series so that when one pattern ends the next

automatically follows. Each step in turn has switches for triggering drum channels
with either accented or normal velocity. (Accented velocity corresponds to a MIDI

velocity of 127, the hardest you can hit a MIDI key, and normal velocity is 64.)

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The Rate at which the patterns run is set globally for all patterns in a preset and is
relative to the tempo of your host sequencer. The setting goes from 1/8, meaning
that each step is one-eighth note in length, up to 1/32.

Each step of a pattern also has a Fill option that is used to create rapid drum rolls at
a rate of your choice. Finally, a Swing parameter gives your rhythm a looser, more

human feel by delaying the sixteenth notes that fall between the eights (this feature

also goes by the name of “shuffle” in some products). The fill rate and the swing pa-

rameter are also set globally for the entire preset.

Pattern Changes usually do not occur in the middle of a pattern1. The patterns play
to their full length before switching. You can automate and arrange pattern changes
in a number of different ways. First, you have the chaining option where you create

Chains of patterns that play after each other in series. As you only have 12 patterns
to chain, this technique is somewhat inadequate for longer arrangements. One way
to solve this is to automate pattern changes as parameter changes, provided your
host supports this. (The current pattern selection is a parameter just as any other.)
Another technique is to use MIDI notes to trigger patterns and record these notes in
a MIDI sequencer track (see MIDI Keyboard for details).

Notice that if you have odd pattern lengths, such as 7 or 13 steps, the pattern en­gine will synchronize its play position to the song position of your host sequencer in
a manner that give consistent and predictable results regardless of where you start
the sequencer. This can have the effect that the current step indicator jumps in pe­culiar ways if you switch between patterns of different lengths.

Similar to the synchronization of pattern changes, starting and stopping patterns is
synchronized to the length of the currently selected pattern. However, unlike pattern
changes, you can force the pattern engine to start and stop immediately by clicking

twice on the Play and Stop Buttons. (Starting and stopping patterns may be auto-

mated as parameter changes, just like pattern changes.)

The pattern engine of Microtonic can also transmit MIDI notes. Thus, to the extent
that your host preset supports it, you can use Microtonic to trigger other MIDI de-

vices. The MIDI keys / note-numbers are the same as for reception (normally C1 to

G1). The MIDI velocities depend on the accent settings (64 or 128).

Presets

The drum patch settings for all eight channels, all the 12 patterns and the global pa­rameters together constitutes a Preset. In Microtonic, you will find several functions
that operate on the entire preset, including functions to load and save presets to
“.mtpreset” files.

Morph

Version 3.0 of Microtonic adds a creative feature called Morph. Morph lets you in­terpolate all drum patch parameters (for all eight channels) between two end-points

using a single slider. Patterns and global parameters (like Swing) are not affected.
While you morph, the drum patch knobs and faders will turn and move along. You
can leave the morph slider at any position and edit the preset there (including copy-

ing, pasting, loading etc) and it will affect the two end-points according to where the

1

MIDI notes can be used to switch patterns immediately depending on the chosen Pattern Launch Mode in

the MIDI Config Dialog.

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morph slider is positioned. If the morph slider is to the far left or right, only the left or
right end-points are affected. If the morph is centered, both end-points will change
by an equal amount. Morph can be controlled with MIDI and automated, allowing
you to use it both for performance (e.g. for dramatic build-ups) and for editing (e.g.

exploring semi-random parameter settings).

Programs

The morph data, all patterns and global parameters together constitutes a Pro­gram. There are 16 programs in memory which you can instantly activate from MIDI

or the user-interface at any given time without interrupting audio. These 16 pro­grams are collectively known as the Program Bank, and it corresponds to the pro-

gram bank accessible in VST hosts. By default, when you open a new instance of

Microtonic, the last used 16 programs will be reloaded automatically. (This behavior

can be changed with the Preferences Dialog.)

User Interface

The main window of Microtonic is divided into four main sections. At the top, you
have the Top Section with the Sound Morph, Preset Browser and Channel Con-

trol. Below you will find the Drum Patch Section where the drum patch parameters
of the currently selected channel are visible. At the bottom, you have the Pattern
Section and the Global Section (including the master volume control of Micro-

tonic).

Figure 1 Main Window

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Menus

At the far left of each section, you will find a number of buttons for performing vari­ous functions. The buttons marked with down-pointing arrows are menu buttons;
menus concerning the relevant sections will pull down when you click on these. As
a shortcut, you may right-click anywhere in the main window (or control-click on

Mac) to display a context menu. The context menus contain items that are relevant

to the section or controller you click on.

Repeat Last Menu

You can Shift Click any menu button to repeat the last executed menu. This is es­pecially useful for repeating functions such as altering and randomizing drum
patches and patterns, shifting patterns left and right etc.

Knobs and Faders

Parameters are edited with the numerous buttons, knobs and faders found on the
screen. Whenever you drag a fader or a knob, a hint window is shown displaying
the name and setting of the parameter in question. The setting is displayed in the
natural unit for the parameter, e.g. frequency settings are displayed in hertz (Hz) and
note name and volume settings in decibels (dB).

Some keys on your computer keyboard modify the behavior of knobs and faders. If
the Shift Key is held down, the rate of change is adjusted so that you can make
finer adjustments. If the Control Key is held down (command key on Mac), the fader

or knob will reset to its default value (i.e. the value of a newly initialized preset /

drum patch). Finally, you can press the Alt Key when clicking a knob to temporarily

change its mode from circular to linear or vice versa.

You can right-click any knob, fader or button in Microtonic to open a small menu
with a few different choices that works directly on the controller. For example, you
can use this menu to enter an exact textual value or assign a MIDI controller to the
parameter.

Top Section

The Top Section of Microtonic contains both program controllers as well as a pre-
set selector and channel buttons.

Preset Selector / Browser

Program Display / Selector

Figure 2 Top Section

Select Channel with MIDI Pitched MIDI Mode

Sound Morph

Stop Voices with MIDI Note Off

Main Menu

Channel Buttons

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Mute Buttons

Program Display

There are 16 program slots available in Microtonic. Clicking the program display will
open up a pop-up menu where you can select which of the 16 slots you want to ac-

tivate. There are also options for enabling MIDI Program Change messages as well
as Write Protecting all programs. By write protecting the programs, any edits you

make will be lost as soon as you switch to another program. (This can be handy in

live performance situations.)

Sound Morph

This slider allows you to morph all drum patches of all channels simultaneously.
Read the section above called Morph for information on how this slider works.

Select Channel with MIDI

When the Select Channel With MIDI option is turned on, Microtonic will select
drum channels as you trigger them from your MIDI keyboard. This features is espe-

cially useful if you plan to use the MIDI controller mapping features to edit your
drum patches (see the section on MIDI Controllers And Keys for more info).

Notice that there is no way to distinguish MIDI notes that come from your keyboard
from notes that come from MIDI tracks in your host sequencer. Therefore, it may be
a good idea to turn this option off before starting sequencer playback.

(This option is also available from the MIDI Config Dialog.)

Pitched MIDI Mode

Microtonic features a mode called Pitched MIDI Mode which allows you to play

melodies with the drum patches on your keyboard. Clicking this button will switch
this mode on and off. In pitched mode, the eight drum channels are addressed with
MIDI channels 1 to 8 and you have the entire keyboard for each channel. C3 (note

number 60) will play the “original pitch” of the drum patch.

MIDI channel 10 still responds like it does in standard mode, which allows you to
control Microtonic fully from your MIDI keyboard (including changing programs, pat-

terns and muting channels).

(This option is also available from the MIDI Config Dialog.)

Stop Voices with MIDI Note Off

Turning this option on will make Microtonic mute voices on MIDI Note Off mes­sages. This allows you to change the length of drum sounds by changing the length
of the notes in your sequencer. It is also useful when using Pitched MIDI Mode to

sustain held midi keys.

(This option is also available from the MIDI Config Dialog.)

Main Menu Button

Click the main menu button to display the main menu. Here you will find functions
that operate on the entire preset as well as some general utility and installation func­tions.

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Undo / Redo

‣

These choices undoes or redoes recent changes you have made. The “undo his­tory” remembers up to 40 changes, but the history will be cleared every time you
close the editor window. To conveniently undo or redo more than one step, use
the Repeat Last Menu feature.

Open Preset

‣

Choose Open Preset to bring up an “open dialog” that lets you load a Microtonic
preset file (file extension “.mtpreset” or “.mtpg”). The open dialog features direct
previewing of presets when you browse them as well as options to load only parts
of preset (see Open Preset Dialog).

Save Preset As

‣

Save Preset brings up a “save dialog” that lets you save the current preset set­tings into a Microtonic preset file (file extension “.mtpreset”).

Revert to Saved

‣

Reloads the last saved version of the preset from disk. (Only available if the cur-

rent preset has been loaded from or saved to disk.)

Cut Preset

‣

This menu copies the current preset settings onto the clipboard and resets the
settings in Microtonic.

Copy Preset

‣

This menu copies the current preset settings onto the clipboard.

Paste Preset

‣

This menu pastes preset settings from the clipboard. The current preset settings
will be replaced by those on the clipboard. (Only available if a Microtonic preset is

available on the clipboard.)

Initialize Preset

‣

This menu choice will reset all preset settings, including all current drum patch
parameters and all patterns.

Exchange Preset / Clipboard

‣

This menu item exchanges the preset settings on the clipboard with the settings
in Microtonic. This feature is useful if you would like to toggle between two differ-

ent versions of a preset. Copy the first version, change the parameters (or load a

new preset) and use this function to swap between the two different presets.
(Only available if a Microtonic preset is available on the clipboard.)

Transpose Preset

‣

This will let you transpose the entire preset (all drum patches) by an arbitrary
number of semitones up (positive) or down (negative). You can enter decimals for
a finer precision than whole semitones. To repeat the transposition, use the Re-

peat Last Menu feature.

Alter Drum Patches

‣

Use this function to make minor random adjustments to all drum patches. To test
various alterations, use the Repeat Last Menu feature.

Randomize All

‣

Use this function to randomize all preset settings, including all current drum patch
parameters and all patterns. Effort has been put into making the random function

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create musically interesting results (with an emphasis on the word “interesting”, as

in experimental, not necessarily musically pleasing). To test various random re-

sults, use the Repeat Last Menu feature.

Edit MIDI Controllers / Keys

‣

This menu toggles the on-screen editing of MIDI keys and controllers mapping.
See MIDI Controllers And Keys for a description on how this works.

MIDI Config

‣

This menu item opens the MIDI config dialog described below in MIDI Config Dia-

log.

Preferences

‣

Choose this item to open the preferences dialog described below in Preferences

Dialog.

Register

‣

Brings up a registration dialog where you register your copy of Microtonic. More
information on how to purchase a registration key can be found on the Sonic

Charge web site.

Read User Guide

‣

Opens the Microtonic User Guide in your PDF reader.

About

‣

Choosing this item will display a window with information on the version of Micro-

tonic you are running.

Channel Buttons

There are eight channel buttons, one for each drum channel. Press a channel button
to display and edit the drum patch parameters for that channel. The pattern editor
will also display the triggers, accents and fills of the channel you select. The se­lected channel is indicated by a blue light.

You may trigger a channel to preview its drum patch by clicking a selected channel
button again. If the Control Key is held down (Alt Key on Mac) the channel will be

triggered accentuated (MIDI velocity 127), otherwise it will be triggered normally

(MIDI velocity 64).

The channel buttons also indicate when channels are being triggered. The button of
a channel that is being triggered flashes quickly with a green light.

If you right-click a channel button a menu will popup offering a few different choices
that works on the drum channel. From this menu you can for example cut, copy and
paste entire channels, including the channel's pattern data for all patterns. This
makes it easy to swap the places of two channels. Just copy the first channel to the
clipboard, choose Exchange Drum Channel / Clipboard on the second channel, and
paste back on the first channel again.

Mute Buttons

Pressing a mute button will toggle the muting of a channel. A muted channel will not
respond to triggers from the pattern engine or MIDI notes. If a sound has already
been triggered it will not be shut off by muting the channel. Thus, the muting differs
from the muting on a mixer-console where the mute button turns the sound off and

on instantaneously. If you are using Microtonic to control other MIDI devices, the

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pattern engine will not generate MIDI notes for muted channels. Muted channels are
indicated by a red light.

Holding down the Control Key (Alt or Command key on Mac) when clicking a mute
button will solo that channel by muting all other channels, unless it is already soloed
in which case it will be “un-soloed” by “un-muting” all channels.

The mutes can also be controlled from the MIDI keyboard, normally with the keys
C2 to G2 (MIDI note-number 48 to 55), but this may be customized to your prefer­ence (see MIDI Controllers And Keys). The channels will be muted for as long as you
hold the key(s) down. (Muting from the MIDI keyboard cannot be automated by the

parameter automation features in your host as opposed to muting with mouse-clicks
or from the computer keyboard, instead you can record the MIDI mutes in a MIDI
track.)

Drum Patch Section

In the middle of the main window you have the drum patch section. This section
contains all the controls for altering the drum patch of the currently selected chan­nel.

Drum Patch Selector

Drum Patch Selector

Drum Patch Menu

Open Drum Patch

Save Drum Patch

Edit All Channels

Figure 3 Drum Patch Section

If the current drum patch has been loaded from or saved to disk the Drum Patch
Selector will display its name. Use the buttons on the left and right-hand side of the

name display to flip through patches on disk and click inside the name display to
bring up a list with all the patches in the current directory. If the drum patch is modi­fied, a star (*) is appended to the name. Note that you cannot explicitly rename a
patch without saving it with a new name.

Drum Patch Menu Button

Click the drum patch menu button to open up the drum patch menu. The drum
patch menu contains functions that operate on the drum patch of the currently se­lected channel.

Open Drum Patch

‣

Brings up an “open dialog” that lets you load a Microtonic drum patch file (file

extension “.mtdrum” or “.mtdp”). The open dialog features direct previewing of

drum patches when you browse them (see Open Drum Patch Dialog).

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Save Drum Patch

‣

Brings up a “save dialog” that lets you save the current drum patch parameters

(of the selected channel) into a Microtonic drum patch file (file extension
“.mtdrum”).

Cut Drum Patch

‣

This menu copies the current drum patch parameters (of the selected channel)
onto the clipboard and resets the parameters in Microtonic.

Copy Drum Patch

‣

This menu copies the current drum patch parameters (of the selected channel)
onto the clipboard.

Paste Drum Patch

‣

This menu pastes drum patch parameters from the clipboard. The patch on the
clipboard will replace the parameters of the selected channel. (Only available if a

Microtonic drum patch is available on the clipboard.)

Initialize Drum Patch

‣

This menu choice will reset all drum patch parameters of the selected channel to
their default settings.

Exchange Drum Patch / Clipboard

‣

This menu choice exchanges the drum patch parameters on the clipboard with
the parameters of the selected channel in Microtonic. This feature is useful if you

would like to toggle between two different versions of a patch. Copy the first ver­sion, change the parameters (or load a new patch) and use this function to swap
between the two different patches. It is also useful if you want to swap the drum

patches of two different channels. (Only available if a Microtonic drum patch is

available on the clipboard.)

Transpose Drum Patch

‣

This will let you transpose the drum patch by an arbitrary number of semitones up

(positive) or down (negative). You can enter decimals for a finer precision than

whole semitones.

Alter Drum Patches

‣

Use this function to make minor random adjustments to the drum patch.

Randomize Drum Patch

‣

Use this function to randomize the drum patch entirely.

Open Drum Patch Button

Press this button to bring up an “open dialog” that lets you load a Microtonic drum
patch file (file extension “.mtdrum or “.mtdp”). The loaded patch will replace the cur­rent patch parameters of the selected channel.

(This is a shortcut for “Open Drum Patch” in the Drum Patch Menu.)

Save Drum Patch Button

Press this button to up a “save dialog” that lets you save the current drum patch
parameters (of the selected channel) into a Microtonic drum patch file (file extension

“.mtdrum”).

(This is a shortcut for “Save Drum Patch” in the Drum Patch Menu.)

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