Usine Pro only

First you can right click on the Seq button of the dashboard, and make a key learn, [S] might be an idea.

You also have the [ctrl+F2] shortcut by default.

This is where you’ll organize your patches along the time line.

You might notice there’s two view modes, small view:

And medium view:

Ruler’s scale. By clicking on the black rectangle bounding the “time” drop down, you can choose between two displays of the ruler:

time, which shows hours, minutes and seconds (hh:mm:ss);

bar, from 1 to as many as you need, with the subdivision of the synchronization, 4/4 by default.

Note also that the time line has it’s own zoom mode. By default, keyboard [H] will zoom in, and [G] will zoom out.:

The lock switch stops any unwanted modifications of the markers from occurring.

The scroll bar let’s you navigate around your sequence, as well as allowing you to zoom in or out very easily.

Just drag the right or left edge of the scrollbar (or use the mouse wheel).

Let’s add our first patch, here an audio one:

Looks like any sequencer, right? But it’s not like any sequencer. Double click on this audio wave and you’ll see it’s a patch, with modules, wires and connections.

Let’s add a filter module and some knobs to this patch:

Double click anywhere on an empty area in this patch to close it. This new patch is now visible in the main window of the sequencer.

Unlock this patch by right clicking on his title and re organize it:

In the Browser, open the Midi folder and drop any midi file at the beginning of the first track.

Depending on which Midi patch you choose, it should look like this: You recognize the midi notes in the small grey bars.Note also that Usine has created automatically the patch interface on the left.

The white rectangles on the right of the patch are switches. If you click on lock, you protect the patch from any unwanted change. You then have 11 switches allowing you to activate alternatively one of the 11 User Curves that you can draw here for automation. By default, the “volume” curve is selected; it is visible between the two red points. We’ll soon go deeper into small automations, let’s see inside first.

By clicking on the black rectangle bounding the grid drop down, you can choose between three snapping mode of the patches and markers:

none, well… no snapping; That means you can put your patch or markers absolutely anywhere on the time line, regardless to the division.

grid makes the patches and markers to snap horizontally on the time line to the divisions; as we remember, they can be counted in elapsed time or in bars.

objects: patches are snapping to the closest other patch or to the closest marker. Markers are snapping to the borders of the patches.

If you’re working on a midi-based patch, it could be easier to set the snapping to grid. Take with your mouse the right side of the patch and pull it in order to “snap” to the bar where the notes are ending.

Resizing a patch is easy but can be a bit tricky when you have drawn 11 very sophisticated automation curves. Remember that dragging will extend their shape proportionally, since Alt+Drag will leave them unchanged.

Watch the original curve below, I’ll resize it on the right…

First with a simple drag:

Normal Drag:

Then with a Alt+Drag:

Now, hit [Ctrl+D] A second Zappa slime fragment midi patch is created, following the first one. Same color, same notes, same parameters. In fact, it is not really a new patch but a clone. In your computer’s memory, it is the same; no more RAM consumption. That means that any changes you make in the first patch will be reflected in all its clones. You can do as many clones as you need, and put them anywhere in the same track. You can clone any patch, even a clone.

Usine has automatically create a [clone] name at the start of his name.

I won’t write ten pages for that: hit [Ctrl+C], then [Ctrl+V]. You already knew that killing thrust.

Now, feel free to organize those patches on the time line, clone as many times you want, add Loop or One-Shot Markers… just experiment.

Double click in an empty zone of the ruler around the start of the Audio patch. This will add a Marker.

To delete it, double-click on it. To move it, drag it.

Create a second marker at the end of this audio patch. If you simple click now on this second marker , you create a loop :

These marker have two states. The simple one is a simple marker – or One-Shot Marker –, since the other one, always yellow but following a stripe, is a Loop-Marker. The stripe is as long as the loop and its color can change. No need to explain that, when the sequencer is playing, the cursor jumps from that Loop-Marker to the beginning of the stripe – that can be the beginning of the tracks or simply the previous marker.

You can also rename each marker: just right click on it to open the menu:

It won’t go further until you click on the continue switch.

As we have seen before, double click on the midi patch to open it.

Click and drag and add a user curve to the gain fader.

Note that Usine has created automatically the good name for the user curve.

Double click anywhere in an empty space in the patch to close it.

Back in the sequencer main window you find the user curve you have just created.

Note that you can use the midi rec function to record this user curve.

Of course, you can also edit this curve manually, put your cursor on the curve and when you see this arrow, double click to add nodes, then move them as you want.

Piano Roll

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