Sugar Bytes Consequence User guide

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Consequence
User Manual
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Table of Contents
What is Consequence
Getting Started
Installation
macOS
The Library
Uninstalling
Authorization
Consequence Structure
The Preset System
The Sound Section
Instruments Filter Effects Section
The Sequencer Section
Sequencer Global Controls Modulation Sequencer Performance Sequencer Octave Sequencer Glide sequencer TIE Sequencer MODE Sequencer Trigger Sequencer Gate Sequencer
The Chord Section
Chord Sequencer
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Chord Memory
Master Section
MIDI Export Compressor 4/4 Kick Master Envelope , Tune and Level
Host Integration
Cubase Ableton Live ProTools Studio One Sonar Logic
Logic AU Workaround
FL Studio
MIDI remote
Tips and Tricks
Saving CPU and Ram Instant percussion track Complex Poly-Rhythmics Interesting Rhythms and Triplets Long Filter Sweep Disco Ducking Use multiple instances
License
Contact
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What is Consequence
While the word Synquencer expresses the combination of Synthesizer and Sequencer, Consequence is so much more.
With this musical instrument, you have an unlimited source of inspiration and unheard sounds at your hands. Consequence features different ways to create and sequence chords, melodies and sound scapes.
A beautiful interface provides instant and easy access to all functions and enables a smooth work flow to get the best out of this complex machine.
Consequence has been made to make your ideas come true – in the process surprising you with new and unheard sounds.
Nomen est Omen: Consequence is a consequent solution for today’s production needs and on-stage environments, containing a lot of new thinking and applied experience to support your musical expression.
Getting Started
Load Consequence as a VST/Audio instrument in your sequencer.
Start your sequencer playback or hit the “Play” Button in the Sequencer Global Section.
Select different Global presets to get a feeling of all the stunning sounds, rhythms and melodies you can easily create with Consequence.
Combine Sound- and Sequence- presets with each other. Dive into an unlimited depth of possible combinations, making Consequence a truly infinite source of inspiration for new songs/tracks/jingles/soundtracks. It´s simple math: 200 Sound Presets multiplied with 200 Sequence Presets and 20 Chord Banks equals 800000 possible sounds - just by selecting presets!
Have a look into the sequencer section. The lowest sequencer chooses chords from the Chord Memory which is the unit on the bottom of Consequence.
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Installation
Download (requires login) the latest version here.
The standalone version and the manual will be installed into Windows: C:\Program Files\Sugar Bytes\Consequence macOS: /Applications/Sugar Bytes/Consequence
Presets will be installed into Documents\Sugar Bytes\Consequence. Do not move the Consequence presets after installation!
WINDOWS
Default installation paths: VST C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins AAX C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins
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macOS
The Audio Unit, the VST Plugin and the AAX Plugin will be automatically installed into the correct folders.
Default installation paths: VST /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ AU /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ AAX /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins
The Library
237 Instrument sounds are available. They all have been created exclusively for Consequence by different sound designers. Included are natural instruments as well as synthesizers.
The Library can be installed to a directory of your choice. If you moved the instrument library manually, next time Consequence starts, it will bring up a dialog box for you to tell Consequence the new library location.
Select the “Locate.me” file which is placed in the Consequence Instruments folder and Consequence will find all Instruments.
Please never delete any files from The Sugar Bytes Instruments folder.
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Uninstalling
In order to uninstall Consequence, please take the following steps:
Windows: Uninstall Consequence under Control Panel/AddRemove Software.
macOS: Here is the way to delete everything regarding Consequence
/Applications/Sugar Bytes/Consequence /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Consequence.vst /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Consequence.component /Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/Consequence.aaxplugin
~/Documents/Sugar Bytes/Consequence ~/Library/Preferences/com.sugar-bytes.Consequence.plist
~ means: /Users/YOURLOGINNAME (your home folder)
(Please note that since OSX 10.7.x the library folder is a hidden folder. Therefore please use the "Go To Folder" menu and then enter ~/Library.)
Authorization
The serial number is requested for installation. If the serial number validation fails, the plugin will show that in the Consequence About Screen.
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Consequence Structure
The Preset System
Consequence offers a versatile Preset System which allows you to combine Sound-, Sequence- and Chord Memory presets to create millions of new sounds out of existing parts.
Presets are organized in sub folders, so you can easily create your own categories. For you to save your own presets we already created a “User” folder.
The four presets systems explained:
1 Global Preset: saves all Consequence settings.
2 Sound Preset: saves all settings from the sound area.
3 Sequence Preset: saves all settings from the sequencer area and the chord memory.
4 Chord Banks: saves all 16 chords in the chord memory.
The presets can be found in the Consequence application folder under Content/Presets.
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The Sound Section
The Sound Section contains the 3 Instruments, as well as the Filter Section and the Master Section. All settings of the Sound Section and the Effects Section are saved in the exclusive “Sound” preset system.
Instruments
The three sample-based instruments offer a wide variety of sounds and timbres. There are some nice trigger- and sound design features included to let each instrument play its own interpretation of the current sequence.
Also, each instrument uses it´s own amplitude envelope and octave setting to realize complex sounds.
The TRG, Each, Crush and Age functions available in each instrument are truly innovative tools to cover some old and new fashioned rhythm- and sound design desires. A quite unusual and very inspiring innovation is the trigger section of each instrument. Basically, each instrument can choose whether it plays all triggers, or only chords, or only arpeggios.
With just a few clicks you can create chords that overlay arpeggios and decide which instrument is filtered and which one is not. This way you can use an unfiltered natural instrument together with a filtered synth sound, which might result in some vibraphone chords with a tricky synth-bassline playing along.
The “Each” control is a good tool to let the 3 instruments play individual rhythms to create one complex rhythm. It makes an instrument use each, each 2nd, each 3rd... gate, enabling you to select different intervals for each instrument to make them trigger at different times - resulting in stunning sound textures and interesting rhythms.
Instrument (I, II, III):
Step through the Consequence instruments folders with the up/down buttons or open the menu with a click on the instrument name or the “Open Menu” button.
You find the instruments sorted in categories (physical folders), so it is really easy for you to find the desired sound.
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Octave Here you set the base octave for the Instrument. Using that feature you can offset the octaves between the Instruments.
Age This parameter introduces a slight pitch-variation to the instruments, heard as detuning effect with lower settings and noisy effects with higher settings. Will add unison-spread and chorus effects.
Crush Polyphonic sample rate reduction according the note´s pitch. Yummy!
Pan The instrument´s position in the stereo field.
Attack The time needed to fade in the audio level when a trigger comes in. The Attack time can be longer than the time of one step, but using TIE you can create very long notes which might require long Attack times.
Decay The time needed to fade to the sustain level. In a step sequencer environment, the Decay parameter controls the length of a note.
Sustain Controls the audio level that is applied as long as a note is held after the Decay time is over. Sustain is important to keep an instrument playing when TIE is used.
Release The fade out time after a note has been released.
Level The instrument’s output level.
On/Off (blue lamp) Here you can switch the instrument on or off.
Note The Arpeggiator plays 8 voices in circle, so long Release times will overlay up to 8 notes with each other.
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TRG Trigger mode of an instrument. Here you control how the instrument reacts to the
Performance/Mode Sequencer. In “ALL” mode, all notes will be played. In “CRD” mode,
only chord-steps will trigger the Instrument, in “ARP” mode, only arp steps (up, down, stay) will trigger the instrument.
Each Here you can decide if the instrument is triggered by each gate, each 2nd, each 3rd... and so on. Using this feature, instruments can play different rhythms and melodies using the same sequence.
MIDI Channel Above the Instrument loader you can find the MIDI channel setting. Select the MIDI channel on which the instrument sends it´s individual triggers and notes. Note Range: Here you can select an exclusive note range for each instrument. If incoming notes are outside of the selected note range, these notes will not be triggered.
ATTENTION:
The Instrument might not be triggered because it´s “TRG” Mode is set to ARP but only chord steps are set or vice versa.
The Instrument might not be triggered by each step because it´s “EACH” mode is set
to a different value than one, so it will only be triggered by each 2nd, 3rd..etc step.
The Instrument might not be triggered by each step because it is assigned to the TIE
sequencer. Instruments require Sustain level to make use of the TIE feature which will hold notes according to the steps set in the TIE sequencer.
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Filter
The Filter contains some excellent sounding, awarded analogue-modeled filters. The Buttons LP, HP, BP, C and N define the filters working mode and the age algorithm gives some dirt to the filter cutoff, which results in a real old, unstable and noisy sound The Lowpass in Consequence has been optimized for a slight self-oscillation when used with high resonance. The Bandpass, Highpass, Notch and Comb Filter deliver the crisp and juicy performance that you might know from our WOW Filterbox.
The Filter can run in Mono- and Poly mode. In Poly mode (POLY: “ON”), each note will individually trigger the Filter Envelope, so each note will have it´s own filter sweep according to the Filter Envelope settings. In Mono mode (POLY: “OFF”), each note will trigger the Filter Envelope for all voices at once. Each instrument can be assigned to the filter independently. Use the buttons I, II and III to assign an instrument to the filter. The trigger options (TRG and Each) can be found in the filter as well as in the instruments. These decide if the Filter Envelope is triggered by all gate steps, exclusively by chord steps or arp steps. Also you can decide to use each, each 2nd, each 3rd... gate to trigger the Filter Envelope.
The L/R button inverses the Filter Envelope sweep between left and right channel. So a filter modulation, which is determined with the peak control, will be heard inversed on the left and right channel.
LP, HP, BP, C, N Choose the working mode of the filter here. Lowpass, Bandpass, Highpass, Notch and Comb Filter are available.
Poly Filters each voice individually (ON) or all at once (OFF).
Input Assigns Instrument I, II and III to the Filter.
TRG Decides which sequencer events trigger the Filter Envelope.
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Each Decides if each note triggers the Filter Envelope or each 2nd, 3rd, 4th ... 8th
Age Slight cutoff disturbance by smoothed noise.
Cutoff The filter base frequency.
Reso The filter depth. Creates high attenuation at the cutoff frequency.
Peak The target filter frequency of the Filter Envelope. It starts at the cutoff, fades to the peak, sustains at the peak and releases back to the cutoff. (see image below) Mix: The filtered signal can be crossfaded with the dry signal. That makes it possible to hear the filtered sound on top of the unfiltered sound.
ATTENTION:
The Filter Envelope might not be triggered because it´s “TRG” Mode is set to ARP
but only chord steps are set or vice versa.
The Filter Envelope might not be triggered by each step because it´s “EACH”
mode is set to a different value than one, so it will only be triggered by each 2nd, 3rd..etc step.
The filter might not take effect because it´s not assigned to the desired instrument
The filter might not be working hard enough because the “MIX” is not set to 100%
wet.
The filter can arpeggiate a chord. So when you wonder why an instrument plays
an arpeggio although it´s “TRG” mode is set to “CRD”, the reason is that the filter is working in Poly Mode and is triggered by Arp steps. That means, the filter will extract one voice after another from an existing chord. Using only audible filter frequencies or changing trigger modes might solve that issue.
If the Peak control is higher than the Cutoff, the Filter envelope will work inversed,
because the envelope is used to fade between Cutoff and Peak.
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Effects Section
Right beside the Sugar Bytes logo you find the “VIEW” button which switches between
Sound- and Effects Section. The effects are running in chain (according to the effects order in the user interface, from left to right) and can be mixed with the original signal.
Reverse The reverser records an audio loop according to the size setting and plays it backwards. The reverser resets together with the sequencer, so when Consequence is triggered, the reverser creates a whole new file. The reversed sound comes in delayed by the time given at the SIZE control.
Size: Size of reversed sound snippet. Goes from 1/32 note to 1/1 note. Decay: Decay time of reverse snippet from 0 to 2000 ms. Fade: Crossfades the reverse-loop-ends to care for a smoother sound. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
Chorus The good old widening and thickening effect, using several detuning stages.
Rate: Speed of the Chorus effect. Width: Stereo imaging intensity. Depth: Intensity of the detuning effect. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
Phaser Immediate width, depth and vintage style.
Rate: Speed of phasing effect. Depth: Intensity of phasing and stereo imaging effect. Feedback: Intensity of the internal feedback circuit. Adds sharpness. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
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Delay Two delay algorithms are available. The Sync Delay works with note times working as delay times (1/16 or 1/8 T for example). The 16th Delay uses 16th notes as delay times and provides individual times for left and right.
Sync Delay
Time: The Delay time in sync values. Width: Intensity of stereo imaging. Feedback: Intensity of the internal feedback circuit. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
16th Delay
Time L, Time R: The Delay time in 16th notes, available for left and right channel. Feedback: Intensity of the internal feedback circuit. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
Reverb A classical reverb with stereo widening feature.
Room: Reverberating room size. Width: Stereo imaging intensity. Damp: Feedback Suppression. Mix: Relation between effects signal and input signal. On/Off (blue lamp): Here you can switch the effect on or off.
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The Sequencer Section
The Sequencer section is where notes and chords are triggered and tweaked. Here you create melodies, glides, rolls and rhythms. 24 individual patterns are stored in the Pattern Keys to be called up using MIDI notes. All settings of the Sequencing Section and the Chord Memory Section are saved in the “Sequence” presets.
Sequencer Global Controls
On the bottom of the sequencing section you find the sequencer Global controls. Here you can instantly start the sequencer (play button), set the sequence speed and swing. Two different sync sources are available as well as MIDI-note-controlled pattern selection. On the left side you have copy, paste, rotate, random and initialize buttons to alternate the whole sequence and spread it across the 24 available Pattern Keys. Also the Randomizer Min/Max controls can be found here.
Swing Retard each second step for swing feel.
Play Button Displays if the sequencer plays or not and can be pressed to immediately start the sequencer.
Tempo Click and drag this control like a knob. Sets the sequencer speed in divisions of your song tempo.
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Sync Selects the clock- and trigger source.
Internal
Will trigger the sequence only when a MIDI note is pressed.
External
Will use the song position information of your host to synchronize Consequence to your song.
Pattern Keys-MIDI Here 24 alternative patterns are stored and called up. You can call the patterns with the mouse, automation and MIDI notes. Just drag the blue arrow across the little pattern keyboard to call a pattern with the mouse. The blue number on the right side identifies the current pattern key. In order to call patterns with MIDI notes, set the Pattern Keys button to “MIDI”.
C Copy the complete visible sequence to the clipboard.
P Paste the sequence from the clipboard to the visible sequence.
Random (Dice Icon) Click this button to randomize the sequence. Min/Max settings for the randomizer can be found in the Global section. If Min becomes bigger than Max, no values will be created within the negative area.
X Initialize the complete visible sequence.
< / > Rotate the sequence.
Gate sequences and Modulation sequences can be copied/pasted with each other.
Loop Bar
On top of the sequencer you find the Loop Bar. Here you set a loop within the sequence. Drag the edges to resize it and drag the center to move the loop bar.
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Modulation Sequencer
You have one of them available for each part of Consequence (Instrument 1-3, Filter, Effects). Draw a curve and let the knobs fly! For a better overview and handling, we only included the most important parameters in the modulation system. The Modulation remotes the parameter completely, so it makes no sense to automate or touch the parameter. To deactivate a modulation just set the regarded modulation track to entry “Off”.
I, II, III, F, FX Click these buttons to call up the modulation sequencers for Instrument 1, 2, 3, Filter or Effects.
Choose the modulation target in the menu below.
C Copy the currently visible modulation sequence to the clipboard.
P Paste the sequence from the clipboard to the visible modulation sequence.
X Erase the currently visible modulation sequence.
< / > Rotate the sequence.
Copy/Paste also works between presets and between plugin instances.
Ctrl+Mousing will switch to the “Line-Draw” mode, which will help you to create straight lines within the sequence. Hold the Shift key, click the source value, then move the mouse to the target value
Shift+Mousing will give you a finer mousing resolution.
Gate sequences and Modulation sequences can be copied/pasted with each other.
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Performance Sequencer
The five sequencing lines in the performance sequencer offer some nice features to create interesting chord/melody-combinations, held notes, rolls, octave jumps and pitch glides. Here you can create magical music with just a few clicks. The Arp Mode Menu gives you some cool possibilities to define the behavior of your arpeggios. Here you can restart an arpeggio with a certain event, define the note starting the arpeggio and select
from two overall arpeggio modes “Absolute” and “Relative”, defining the note order when
the ARP style changes (from up to down for example).
The performance sequencer features an advanced mousing mode which makes it easy to create sequences on the fly:
If you click on an empty step, an active step will be created. If you drag from an empty step, an active block of steps will be created. If you click on a step multiple times, you reach the different states of the step
(Mode and Trigger sequencers only), for example arp up, stay and down or multi­trigger 2x, 3x, 4x.
If you drag from an active step, all following steps will become like the active step.
For example if you press an arp-up-step and then drag with the mouse, a block of arp-up-steps will be created.
Rightclick a step to delete it. Rightclick-drag to delete multiple steps.
Glide The time needed to fade from one note to the next when a Glide Step is set.
TIE Assign the TIE sequencer to the Instruments and the Filter individually.
Arp Mode “Absol.” creates larger note jumps when the arp-figure changes, while “Relat.” plays one note after another according to the notes set in the chord memory. Please see the “Mode Sequencer” explanation for more info.
Restart Decides at which event the Arp will restart (playing the first voice of the given chord). Set it to “Play” to restart the Arp whenever you hit play in your sequencer. That results in evolving melodies which might be much longer than one sequence.
Set it to “Wrap” to restart the Arp at the first sequencer step. That makes sure the melody will always be repeated when the sequencer wraps around. “Block” will restart
the arp whenever a block of arpsteps is reached. That way you can restart a melody
multiple times within the sequence. “Style” will restart the arp when it changes between
the available modes up, stay, down or chord. “Chord” restarts the arp whenever a chord step is reached. “MIDI” will restart the arp whenever a MIDI-note arrives.
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Shift Selects the voice the arp will start with. So you can make the arpeggiator start at voice 3 for example to select a distinct note that you want your melody to start with.
Octave Sequencer
Here you can set octave jumps for the whole sound section. While the Arp Style and Chord/Arp switching is part of the TIE system (will not change during active TIE steps), the octave sequencer can shift octaves at any time.
Glide sequencer
Use this sequencer to glide from one note to another. The fader on the left side controls the time needed to glide from one note to the next one. Only Arpeggios make use of the Glide steps.
TIE Sequencer
The TIE sequencer makes it possible to hold the gate and pitch of the previous step. More active tie-steps together (blocks) make one long note. The TIE feature can be assigned to each Instrument independently. That way you can hold a chord with one Instrument while another Instrument plays an arpeggio on top of it. Therefore one Instrument must
be set to “CRD” and the TIE must be assigned to it. Another Instrument must be set to “ARP” with TIE unassigned. When a note is held, you can make full use of the ADSR
Envelope. Now you can use long Attack and Decay times. The Filter, which also uses an envelope, can be assigned to the TIE as well, which makes long filter sweeps possible. The TIE holds gate and pitch, what means that multi-triggers will not be played during active TIE (for the assigned Instruments or filter).
I, II, III, F The Buttons I, II, III, F assign the TIE to Instrument 1, 2, 3 and Filter
ATTENTION:
An Instrument might not play each step because TIE is assigned to it.
An instrument must have a Sustain Level greater then 0 or a long Attach time to
work with TIE.
Use looped sounds (Synths, Strings, Brass(/Winds, Vocals) with TIE. Oneshot-
Sounds like Bells, mallets, Percussions or Guitars are not suitable to be used with TIE.
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MODE Sequencer
Here you manage your melody. For each sequencer step you can choose to play a full chord or a melody where you can decide for each step if it goes up or down or repeats the last note.
ARP MODE
The ARP MODE decides how the change of arp direction is handled.
In “RELATIVE” mode, the change of playback direction will always be relative to the last played note. So if the arp runs upwards and now turns downwards, it will go downwards from the last played note (look at the image).
In “ABSOLUTE” mode, the direction change will invert the arp playback, which results in note jumps. If the arp played a 4 voice chord upward and changes the direction after it played note 1, it will play note 4 as the first downward note. That creates more interesting melodies because the next note is not always the closest to the previous note. The Image below should explain that visually.
Relative Arp Mode Absolute Arp Mode
RESTART menu controls
The RESTART menu controls the moment when the arpeggiator restarts. It can be useful to let the arp simply do its thing for long and unpredictable melodies. But it can also be useful to restart the arp at certain events to create a certain melody. So the arp can be retriggered when you hit play in your sequencer, when a block of arp steps is reached if no arp was set before, when a MIDI note arrives, when the arp changes its playback mode (style), or when the sequencer reached the first step (wrap).
Attention:
An Instrument might remain silent because it is set to TRG Mode “ARP”, but only chord steps are set.
An Instrument might remain silent because it is set to TRG Mode “CRD”, but only arp steps are set.
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Sequencer symbols
Chord step
Plays the full chord.
Arp step
Play the notes of the chord upward.
Repeat the last note.
Play the notes of the chord downward
If no Arp step is set, a chord will be played when the sequencer reaches that step. When
you set an Arp step, a single note will be played. If the “TRG” (Trigger-) Mode of an Instrument is set to “ARP”, it will only be triggered by arp steps. If it´s set to “CRD”, it will
only be triggered by steps with no Arp set. If the TRG Mode of an Instrument is set to “ALL”, it will be triggered by all existing steps.
The Arpeggiator also offers some interesting note handling and retriggering features.
Trigger Sequencer
Here you can make steps trigger multiple times. So for example if 2 is set, the step will be triggered two times, at double speed. That’s a good feature to introduce flams, rolls, strums and triolic feels. The multi-trigger is also used by the arpeggiator which results in fast arpeggios on a single step. The multiple triggered notes have different velocity values to avoid the machine gun effect. Especially with a low tempo setting (1/4 or 1/8) you can create interesting rhythmical structures using the multi-trigger sequencer. See the image below for a visual explanation.
Please be aware that the swing feature will affect the multi-triggers. Since the swing delays each second note, a multi-trigger is playing later and so might overlay the next gate step. So because the swing factor will affect the multi-trigger speed, each second step will play a faster multi-trigger according to the swing factor. This is to ensure that a multi-trigger has finished before the next step is played.
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Gate Sequencer
The Gate sequencer triggers the notes and chords. Each active step generates a note event. For creating gate sequences on the fly, we have prepared a little pattern-maker which contains 8 standard gate lines ready to be written into the gate sequencer. Just choose an entry in the “Create Gate Pattern” menu and hit the arrow button to create a gate sequence on the fly.
ATTENTION:
An Instrument might remain silent because it is set to TRG Mode “ARP”, but only chord steps are set.
An Instrument might remain silent because it is set to TRG Mode “CRD”, but only arp steps are set.
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The Chord Section
The chord section consists of two main parts: the chord memory and the chord sequencer.
In the chord memory, 16 chords can be stored. These 16 chords represent a chord bank. Chord Banks can be saved and loaded from the Chord Bank preset system. The chord sequencer chooses from these 16 chords. The currently played chord is represented by a number (1-16) which is displayed by a big blue number right beside the keyboard and yellow numbers (which also work as buttons) above the keyboard. The yellow numbers 1-16 can be used to select the current chord
when the “Select” control is set to “Manual”. In “Sequencer” Mode, these numbers will
display the currently selected chord.
The chord section can be bypassed (set “Select” to “MIDI”). That makes it possible to play
your own chords and melodies via MIDI and arrange them with the sequencer section. Especially when you know exactly what you want to play, for a distinct musical piece or live performance, it might be easier just to play manually and let the sequencing section do its magic.
Chord Sequencer
This is the sequencer where the chords are called up. Each sequencer step represents one of the 16 chords available in the chord memory and displays the chord number directly in the sequencer bar. It features a tempo divider which can slow down the chord sequence, so that you can have a chord sequence which is 2 or 4 times longer than all other sequences. You will see that this is a central feature when it comes to classical song structures where one chord is played for 2 or 4 bars.
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Chord Memory
A chord can play up to 8 notes at the same time. You can create these notes with the mouse on the screen keyboard. Click into the keyboard to create or delete notes.
Another possibility to fill the chord memory with chords is the “Create Chord” feature.
Select a root note, a chord model and press write. That way you can adapt Consequence
to an existing song pretty quickly. We recommend to activate the “Select: Manual””
feature to make sure the chord sequencer will not change the chord while you are creating it. Copy/paste/init functions are available to copy and alternate chords within the 16 memory slots. The left/right arrows are used to shift the chord up and down on the keyboard. Tiny indicators on top of the keyboard display the currently played notes. Red lamps indicate that a chord is played, blue lamps indicate which note is played by the arpeggiator.
Create Chord Use the first menu to select a root note (for example c), then use the second menu to select a chord model (for example minor6), then hit the arrow button to write that chord into the chord memory.
Chord Bank Save and recall a bank of chords (16 memory slots) here.
Select Choose if the sequencer will call the chords, if you select them with the mouse (Manual) or if you want to play MIDI notes (MIDI). Numbers1-16 The 16 memory slots for the 16 chords which are called by the sequencer.
Chord display Shows the currently selected chord or a MIDI icon if MIDI-in is activated.
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Master Section
In the Master section you find the master level control which can be controlled by an envelope, master tuning controls, the Compressor, the Kickdrum and the MIDI Export function.
MIDI Export
The MIDI data generated by Consequence can be saved to a MIDI File.
Just drag&drop the “Hand/Note” Icon to a MIDI track in your sequencer or to your
desktop and the file will be created. Use the control on the left side to set the length of the MIDI file. The maximum length is 64 bars.
The generated file contains all MIDI information of activated instruments. The number of channels in the exported MIDI file depends on the MIDI channels selected in the instruments section.
Examples:
Instrument I: MIDI Channel 1 Instrument II: MIDI Channel 2 Instrument III: MIDI Channel 3 Will export a Multitrack MIDI file with 3 tracks.
Instrument I: MIDI Channel 1 Instrument II: MIDI Channel 2 Instrument III: MIDI deactivated Will export a single track MIDI file containing all MIDI information of Instrument I and II.
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Compressor
The inbuilt compressor is meant to glue your consequence music together. Different intensity and speed modes can be selected, so you can do decent compression for a consistent leveling or do really hard disco compression with ducking and kickdrum sidechaining. Make sure that you have your speaker-levels down when you deactivate the compressor, the signal becomes louder when the compressor is off since the master level is used to recover the gain reduction introduced by the compressor.
Comp Controls the compression intensity.
Speed Controls how fast the compressor reaction is.
4/4 Kick
The kickdrum feature has been implemented to give you a 4/4 base while you create sequences without another instrument aside. It will show you where your groove is and
“where it should go” if something´s not right with it. Furthermore the kickdrum drives the
compressor and can introduce state of the art compression effects.For jamming on the road or just for finding new cool melodies and rhythms, a kickdrum is on board. The Kick always plays 4 to the floor, thus giving you an idea what rhythmical feeling your sequence has. A special feature of the kick is that you can mute it, while it still is added to the compressor sidechain. That gives you the chance to use the kick to glue your consequence-music together and duck it at each quarter note for discopumping without
compromises. When the kick runs in “sidechain only” mode, the kick level still can be
used to control the amount of impact which the kick has to the compression.
Kick Kickdrum level, use it also to control the impact of the kick drum on the compressor when in “SC only” Mode.
Tone Control the Kick intensity and harmonic pulse-modulation.
SC Only The kickdrum will be muted, but still be added to the compressor sidechain. Use this feature for a fatter sound and for 4/4 ducking effects.
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Master Envelope , Tune and Level
The Master section is there to do some overall settings like tuning and level. Additionally you have a master envelope which fades the master level in and out according to the MIDI input. When you press a note, the Attack parameter will define the time needed to fade in the Consequence audio output until the master level is reached. The release time defines the fade-out time after you released the MIDI note. The sequencer will run as long as the release phase is active.
Masterlevel Final Audio level
Tune Finetuning to adapt Consequence to an alternatively tuned piece.
Shift Shifts the Consequence pitch in whole notes to quickly get in tune with your song.
Attack Master -Envelope. The level-fade-in-curve that happens when you hit play or press a key.
Release Master -Envelope. The level-fade-out-curve that happens after you released a key or hit stop. The sequencer will keep running until the release time is over.
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Host Integration
Basically there are to 2 ways to work with Consequence. The Clock Source determines how the Consequence engine is started and stopped. First way is to set the Clock Source to INTERNAL. Then Consequence will run if you trigger it via a MIDI note. If the Clock Source is set to EXTERNAL, it will always run along with the host clock.
Please activate the 'Pattern Keys' option in Consequence. Then switch to arrangement view and set MIDI Note events to trigger and select certain Consequence Pattern. So you can trigger the related key at the exact location you want.
Cubase
Go to the Cubase plugin manager and make a full rescan there. Ensure that Consequence.dll (Win) or Consequence.vst (macOS) file is in Cubase's assigned VST Plugins folder.
In order to route the MIDI output of Consequence to other virtual instruments go to devices->VST Instruments. Then choose Consequence and in a further instance the synth you want to control. Choose Consequence as MIDI input in the MIDI track for your synth (here Cyclop)
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Ableton Live
In Live it's highly recommended to use the VST version. The installer will ask you for the VST plugins folder. Make sure you set the VST Plugins folder that Live is using. Please have a look in your VST folder and check whether the “Plugin”.dll is present beside your other VST's.
At least in Live it can happen that a plugin gets marked as unloadable and will not be rescanned automatically. You have to force a rescan by unchecking and checking the 'Use custom VST Folder' checkbox in Preferences/File Folder/Plug-In Sources.
The workaround with Live is quite simple. Your setup should look like this. In the receiving track of your target instrument make sure to select Consequence twice as input.
ProTools
When installing Consequence, make sure to select the AAX plug-in format.
In order to connect Consequence to another instrument in Pro Tools, create an Instrument track and load Consequence as insert on that track.
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Now create the target instrument track and load the target instrument. Activate Record on the target track and choose Consequence in the Instrument-Input menu
Studio One
Go to the Studio One menu and choose Options, click on Locations, then VST Plug-Ins.
Click the Add button and select your VST Plugin folder. Press OK then close and re-open
Studio One. If you still don’t see your plugin, go back into that screen and click the “reset blacklist” button, then close and open Studio One again.
Set up an Instrument Track and drag Consequence from the Instrument Box to the track.
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In order to route the MIDI output of Consequence to other virtual instruments choose the synth you want to control in a further Instrument Track. Then set up Consequence as MIDI input in the Instrument Track for your synth (here Unique).
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Sonar
Consequence is an Instrument, so you should insert as a Soft Synth.
Make sure to activate the MIDI output option in the plugin dialog from sonar.
Make sure you set the VST Plug-ins folder that Sonar is using.
Go to Utilities> Cakewalk Plug-in Manager. In the VST configuration section, click on Options then click Add and select the folder your VST plugin is installed to. Press OK and click the Scan VST Plug-ins button.
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Now you can route the MIDI output from consequence to any other synth.
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Logic
If you are using Logic as a host, you won't be able to use VST plugins directly. The AU format does not send and receive MIDI data "out of the box," but we have created a workaround to bring bliss to Logic users as well.
You can also use a sub-host in order to patch the Consequnce MIDI output to other synths but the easiest way is to use the MIDI File drag and drop function in Consequence!
Logic AU Workaround
Once you've installed Consequence, just follow this step-by-step procedure. Once you have completed the steps in this workaround, we recommend saving the Logic file as a template so that you start new projects right away without repeating the workaround. Open Audio-MIDI-Setup (by default in the Applications folder on your hard disk). At the top of the Audio MIDI Setup window, you have a choice between Audio Devices and MIDI Devices; choose MIDI Devices.
You will now see a window of icons representing the various real or virtual MIDI connections to your computer. Double-click on the IAC Driver icon to open the IAC Driver Properties window. Make sure "Device is Online" is checked. You may then need to click on the "More Information" arrow to open the rest of the window. Compare the settings in this illustration to make sure your system is set up in the same way. Now open Logic. To keep things easy, it might be best to open an empty project with no audio tracks. Create a Software Instrument Track and insert Consequence (choose under I/O AU Instruments/Sugar Bytes/Consequence Stereo). Quickly make a sequence (or just raise the Velocity Sequence step levels well above zero: see "Setting Up Consequence" above for details.
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Insert a second Software Instrument Track and insert the software synthesizer of your choice. In Logic's "Window" menu, open the Environment. You should now see what looks like a mixer, including the two tracks you just created. In the Environment window local menu bar, click on "New" and select "Physical Input." This should be near the bottom of the list of elements in the "New" menu. If you plan to record the Consequence MIDI Output, also create a « Sequencer Input ». From now on you have to make sure that the Consequence-Track is not selected, otherwise it will send MIDI to itself. You could create two IAC Busses, one for the Consequence-Synth connection and one for the Consequence-Sequencer-Input connection. Then you only have to switch beween both busses in the Consequence about screen in order to record the MIDIsignal or send it to the synth directly. In order to fix the timing issues brought in by the IAC Driver, you should move the track to the right position (or use Track-Delay) and quantize the MIDI notes. Click on the small arrow-like icon of your IAC-Bus at the top right, (below "SUM") on the Physical Input module and drag a wire connection to the channel containing the soft synth you inserted.
Now open the Consequence interface from the channel where it is inserted. If it is not already open, you can do this by double-clicking on "Consequence" label in the blue I/O slot in the channel stip. Click on the Consequence or Sugar Bytes logo in the upper right corner of the Consequence window. In the About screen that appears. Click on "Host," which appears just underneath and choose IAC Driver IAC Bus 1. Click on anywhere inside the About screen to close it.
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Now start Consequence (click on the start button). You should hear your synth! Repeat the procedure to have more Consequence connections!
The IAC Driver Support is also available in the VST Plugin to support alternative connections in other host applications.
FL Studio
Please go to Options -> File Settings and select the folder your VST plugin is installed to or double check that you install the “Plug-In”.dll in the VST folder FL Studio is using.
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Go to Channels->Add one->Consequence
In order to route the MIDI output of Consequence to other virtual instruments choose the synth you want to control in a further Channel. Then set up Consequence as MIDI input in the Channel for your synth (here Unique).
MIDI remote
All relevant Consequence parameters can be controlled via Host Automation.
All relevant Consequence controls can be remoted via MIDI controllers. You find the MIDI Learn function when you right click a control.
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Tips and Tricks
Saving CPU and Ram
Deactivate Effects and Instruments and run the Filter in “POLY: OFF” mode if you want
to save CPU. Use a small record buffer (Audio Recorder: bars: 1) to save Ram.
Instant percussion track
Use the instruments from the Percussion library. Do not sequence chords, just have one chord running (maybe switch to manual chord select mode). Now draw notes into the chord memory, but only use notes which call suitable percussion samples. The mode sequencer will now play interesting percussion tracks which become polyphonic when chord-steps are played.
Complex Poly-Rhythmics
Set two instruments to TRG: “ARP”. Assign one of them to the TIE sequencer. Now draw some random tie steps. You will see that both instruments now play different rhythms, because one is held by TIE steps, while the other one is not. Now set the third instrument to EACH: 2. This one will now play a third different rhythm, because it only plays each second note.
Interesting Rhythms and Triplets
Use a slow tempo division ( 1/4 or 1/8). Make a usual sequence. Now draw in Multitrigger steps, a 2 here, a 3 there... You will now hear funny double-ups and triplets making your rhythm stand out.
Long Filter Sweep
Draw a TIE sequence as long as the desired filter sweep. Now only assign the filter to the TIE sequencer. Use large Attack and Decay settings, now the long Filter sweep is perfect.
Disco Ducking
Use the Kickdrum in SC Only mode and pull its volume up. Now set the Compressor to “Too Much” and “Fast”. The Kickdrum will now make the compressor drop the Masterlevel at each quarter note - fitting it perfectly into your dancefloor breaker. Fit perfectly into your dancefloor breaker.
Use multiple instances
If you have a good theme, save the Global Preset. Now open another instance and load that Global Preset. You can now change sequences and Instruments to create another theme that plays along, for example a bassline, strings or guitar pickings.
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License
The Consequence License covers both the macOS and Windows versions and can be used on two computers. For any use on more than two computers, you must buy an additional license.
You may resell the software three months or more after purchase.
Contact
Sugar Bytes GmbH | Made of passion Greifswalder Str. 29 | 10405 Berlin, Germany phone:+493060920395
info@sugar-bytes.de www.sugar-bytes.com
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