Tutorial 4: Using a Drum Instrument

MetaSynth has the powerful ability to use multi-sampled instruments to play a picture. In this example, we use a drum instrument, one of the many instruments found on the MetaSynth CD.

In MetaSynth 2.5, several features have been added to make it more convenient than before to paint parts in the Image Synth. Control-clicking in the Image Synth plays the sound the clicked pixel plays. The brush (or shift) grid is now directly accessible in the Image Synth window. There is also a new note brush tool which makes painting rhythms and melodies easier than ever.

Step 1. Loading the Instrument

A) Open the Drum Instrument. Choose Open Instrument... from the Instruments menu. Find the "TR808 instrument" on the MetaSynth CD. It will be found in the folder "MetaSynth CD:INSTRUMENTS ƒ:Drums & Percus ƒ:tr808ƒ:" MetaSynth loads the samples and displays the Instrument dialog box shown below. Audition any sample by pressing.

Press  to complete loading the instrument.

B) Make the Instrument the input source. Click on the Sound Source icon. The particular icon that will visible will depend on the currently selected sound source. It will be one of the icons visible in the list  of available sound sources shown below.Click on the 'tr808' instrument to make it the sound source for the picture.

Step 2. Setting the Tempo, Grid, and Picture Size.

A) Set the Channel mode. If you are in mono mode, click on the Mono/Stereo toggle .If the Channel Indicator is not , click on the Channel Indicator  and choose  from the pop-up list.

B) Set the tempo. Double-click  to display the Tempo/Durations dialog box. Type '16' into the Pixels Per Beat field. Set the tempo to 130. Press .

C) Set the picture and grid size. Click on the Grid Size indicator  and type '16' (which is a quarter note in this picture). Set the horizontal size of the picture by clicking size x and choosing '64' from the list of sizes.

D)  Press the Zoom Icon repeatedly until the picture is a convenient size for your monitor.

Step 3. Using Grid & Repeat to Paint the Kick and Snare.

A) Choose the Pen Brush from the Tools pop-up.

NOTE: Make sure to set the Brush Mode to Stroke Mode  by clicking the Brush Mode indicator--which is found above the above the Brush Palette icon--until the Stroke Mode icon is displayed)
B) Set the brush grid and brush size. Click on the the Brush Size icon  and drag the mouse so that the brush is set to be 3 pixels wide and one pixel high . Click on the number displayed below the Brush Grid icon and type '16'.

NOTE: Any brush strokes painted while the shift key is being pressed will snap to the location which is the nearest multiple of this number. In this case, we are ensuring that our kick drum and snare drum notes will fall on quarter note boundaries.

C) Enter the bass drum part. Control-click in the Image Synth and MetaSynth plays the sample that corresponds to that note. Control-click until you find the pixel range that plays the kick drum (bass drum). Hold down the shift key (to align the note to the brush grid which is set to a quarter note). Click near the beginning of the picture. Press  to repeat the note at 16 pixel (quarter note) intervals.

The image should look like this: 

D) Enter the snare drum part. Control-click in the Image Synth to find the pixel range that plays the snare drum sample. Hold down the shift key, and click in the space above the second and fourth notes to paint in the backbeat. Press  to preview the picture.

The image will look like this: 

Step 3. Using the Repeat Brush to Paint the Hi-Hat.

A) Set the brush mode to repeat mode. Click on the Brush Mode indicator (found above the Brush Palette icon) until the Repeat Mode icon  is displayed.

B) Enter the closed hi-hat part. Control-click in the Image Synth to find the range which plays the closed hi-hat. Hold down the shift key, and click above the first note. Four notes will be painted in at 16 pixel intervals.

C) Set grid to sixteenth notes and enter the rest of the hi-hat part. Click below the Brush Grid indicator  and type '4' to set the grid to sixteenth notes. Click on the Brush Color palette and choose a dimmer color than the current one. Hold down the shift key, and click in the space beside the note you just painted. Hold down the shift key, and click in space beside the note you just painted. Find the open hi-hat sound by control-clicking. Hold down the shift key, and click in the blank space above and beside the last note you entered. Press  to preview the picture.

The image will look like this: 

Step 4. Painting with the Note Brush.

A) Set the Brush Mode to Dot Mode by clicking on the Brush Mode indicator until it is . Click on the Brush Palette and choose the Note Brush .

B) Enter notes. Control-click to hear the samples played by the upper part of the picture.Click and drag the brush over the upper parts of the picture to paint in more percussion. Note that you do not need to hold down the shift key when using the note brush in dot mode. The note brush will automatically quantize to the brush grid when the brush is in dot mode. Press  to preview the picture.

The image will look something like 

TIP: Use the marquee tool to select the upper part of the picture, and apply a color filter such as . This will give the picture an exciting stereo field.

IDEAS FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION:

The MetaSynth CD contains hundreds of megabytes of ready-made instruments. Listen to this picture with other instruments (especially other percussion instruments) found on the CD. Also, notice that each instrument has at least one preset file with pictures that show off that particular instrument.

When you have constructed a rhythm part you like, use that part in the blue channel of the other presets you will use in your composition. To do this, copy the picture (press 'c'). Create a new empty preset. Type 'g' to paste the picture to the blue channel. You can now see the rhythm part and use it as a template when painting other musical parts.