Q: I got my drum sequence sounding right on Ultrabeat’s sequencer, but I want to do more than one pattern in the song.  How do I that?

A: Good question.  Ultrabeat’s probably one of the coolest, most complete plugins you get for “free” with Logic.  The problem is, it’s also one of the most complicated plugins you’ll ever have the displeasure of navigating. 

Thankfully, all of the functions involved in switching patterns are at the bottom of the plugin and are pretty easy to figure out.

The basic way to use the onboard sequencer in Ultrabeat and switch between patterns is by dragging a MIDI region out of the plugin and onto your arrange window.  I know that sounds weird but there’s a little, ingenious button those Apple guys put on Ultrabeat that makes this a snap. 

The little button next to “pattern” in the bottom-left corner of Ultrabeat will let you drag from the plugin to your arrange window, creating a region containing all the note data of your currently-selected sequence. 

Just do this for the various sequences you create in Ultrabeat. You have to make sure to turn the sequencer part of Ultrabeat “off” when you want the plugin to read the MIDI Regions on your Arrange window track.  Turn it on if you want Ultrabeat to play the current sequence on its onboard sequencer. 

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There’s another option, which is to control which stored sequence is played based on a trigger note. This is a great option for “live” changes as you can trigger the patterns using either live input from a MIDI controller or from MIDI regions on the track.

See that drop-down menu next to the “pattern” button?  That’s the menu you use to switch between different stored sequences in that instance of Ultrabeat.  Each Sequence is also assigned a key on piano using the “(note octave)” denotation, i.e. in the picture below, pattern #1 is triggered by note C, Octave -1…roughly speaking.

Note: (C-1) means “C minus 1″ not C1.  So if you’re trying this and all you hear is a kick drum, then you need to go two octaves lower.

 

Anyway, you can create multiple patterns in your Ultrabeat sequencer, and then “play” the trigger keys throughout the song to switch patterns. Just make sure you turn on “Pattern Mode” and choose the trigger mode that you want.

 

One-shot Trig will play the next pattern, you guessed it, one time. 

Sustain will play as long as you “hold down” the trigger note.

Toggle switches patterns when it receives a new trigger note. (Don’t have to hold it down)

Toggle on Step 1 switches the pattern after the current pattern plays all the way through.  Basically its a “switch on the next downbeat” option.

 

Anyway, Hope that helps!

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