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Downloads
Features
Screenshots
Documentation
Forum
Developer Zone
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User Manual
How to create a song? Read more. A simple Tutorial
Hydrogen Manual
Antonio Piraino
Alessandro Cominu
Thijs Van Severen
Sebastian Moors
Abstract
Hydrogen is a software synthesizer which can be used alone, emulating a drum machine based on patterns, or via an external MIDI keyboard/sequencer
software. Hydrogen compiles on Linux/x86 and Mac OS X, although the latter is still experimental, so ask in the developers mailing list for further details.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Download
Build
Using scons
Preferences
The General tab
The Audio System tab
The Midi System tab
The Appearance tab
The Audio Engine tab (debug only)
2. Using Hydrogen
Used Filetypes
Main menu
The main toolbar
Tap Tempo and BeatCounter
Song Editor
Main controls
Tempo markers and song Tags
Patterns options
Pattern Editor
Pattern Editor Controls
Pattern Editor Drumkit
Pattern Editor Sequence area
Pattern Editor Note Properties
Pattern Editor Piano mode
Mixer
Instrument channel strips
FX rack and LADSPA plugins
Master section
Sound Library (Drumkit/Pattern/Song Manager)
System Drumkits
(Adding) User Drumkits
Songs in the Sound Library
Patterns in the Sound Library
Drumkits and Instrument Editing
Concepts
Creating a New Drumkit
Instrument Parameters
Creating an Instrument and Layers
Sample Editor
Tips on Editing Instruments
Midi actions
3. A new song
"Song" mode and "Pattern" mode
A new pattern
A new sequence
Adjust from the mixer
4. Shortcut lists
Glossary
List of Figures
1.1. The General Tab
1.2. The Audio System Tab
1.3. The MIDI System Tab
1.4. The Appearance Tab
1.5. The Audio Engine tab
2.1. The Main Toolbar
2.2. The Song Editor
2.3. The Pattern Options menu
2.4. Pattern Editor in Drum mode
2.5. Pattern Editor Controls
2.6. Pattern Editor in Piano mode
2.7. The Mixer
2.8. Select an Effect
2.9. Soundlibrary/Drumkit hierarchy
2.10. The Soundlibrary
2.11. Import Drumkit
2.12. The Instrument editor General view
2.13. The Instrument editor Layers view
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Chapter 1. Introduction
Table of Contents
Download
Build
Using scons
Preferences
The General tab
The Audio System tab
The Midi System tab
The Appearance tab
The Audio Engine tab (debug only)
Download
You can download Hydrogen from http://www.hydrogen-music.org. On the 'Downloads' page you can find several binaries (installers) for Linux, Mac and
Windows. (note that some versions may not be available for Windows and Mac)
If you want to compile Hydrogen yourself (see the section called Build), you can download the latest source files directly from our subversion server with:
$ svn co http://svn.assembla.com/svn/hydrogen/trunk
Build
Depending on the branch you are compiling you will need to use Scons or Cmake. Check the INSTALL.txt and the README.txt files for more info (located in the
top level dir once you downloaded the sources).
Using scons
Decompress the tarball or go to the directory where the subversion copy was checked out:
$ cd hydrogen-*
$ scons
$ su -c "scons install"
If you want to use features which are not enabled by default (for instance PortAudio), you can enable them with:
$ scons portaudio=1
Namely, if you get some error while running Hydrogen and you want to report it remember to configure hydrogen with:
$ scons debug=1
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$ scons -c
Preferences
First of all you should make sure that the audio engine is configured properly. The preferences dialog can be accessed via the tools menu (tools -> preferences).
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jackd: The Jack driver is a professional audio server which permits very low lag and exchanges with other audio software. We strongly recommend using
this driver to have the best out of Hydrogen. JACK server will start automatically if not already running.
ALSA: the widely adopted Linux standard audio drivers
OSS: The Oss audio driver uses /dev/dsp and it's based on the OSS interface which is supported by the vast majority of sound cards available for Linux;
this said, the use of this audio driver blocks /dev/dsp until Hydrogen is closed i.e. unusable by any other software. Use it as last resort.
PortAudio: an open-source multi platform audio driver
CoreAudio: a driver for Mac OS X (experimental)
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Used Filetypes
Before working with Hydrogen, please familiarize with these filetypes:
*.h2pattern: XML file describing a single pattern. Patterns are group of beats and are managed in the pattern editor.
*.h2song: XML file describing the whole song (or sequence). Songs are group of patterns with their properties and are manager using the song editor
*.h2playlist: XML file describing a playlist. A Playlist is a (ordered) group of songs.
*.h2drumkit: a compressed and archived folder containing all sound samples composing a drumkit and a description XML file. Drumkits are basically
group of sound samples.
Main menu
Projects: this menu offers file related functions.
New - Create a new song
Show Info - Set general properties of the song such as name, author, license and generic notes
Open - Open a song
Open Demo - Open a demo song (demo songs are stored in $INSTALLPATH/share/hydrogen/data/demo_songs)
Open recent - Open a menu showing last used songs
Save - Save changes to current song
Save as - Save current song specifying a name (default path: $HOME/.hydrogen/data/songs)
Open pattern - Open a saved pattern belonging to the current drumkit
Export pattern as - Saves a pattern. It will be stored in $HOME/.hydrogen/data/patterns/drumkit_name
Export MIDI file - Export current song in MIDI format
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Main controls to start [Hotkey = Spacebar], stop, record, fast forward, rewind, loop a song or a pattern.
Set Pattern/Song Mode. When Song mode is selected Hydrogen will play the complete song. This is the sequence of patterns you have created in the
Song Editor (see the section called Song Editor). When Pattern mode is selected Hydrogen will play the pattern that is currently selected, and thus
displayed in the Pattern Editor (see the section called Pattern Editor).
Set measure type and Beat Counter (see the section called Tap Tempo and BeatCounter).
Set speed of playing (range: 30-400 bpm) [Hotkey = mouse wheel] and button to enable/disable metronome
Shows CPU load and MIDI events. The CPU bargraph gives you an indication of the CPU load. The MIDI led lights up every time Hydrogen receives a midi
message.
Click J. TRANS to enable Jack transport. If the J. MASTER button is pressed Hydrogen will work as 'master', else it will act as 'slave' to another 'master'
program (e.g. Ardour). This applet is only available if Jack Audio Driver is selected.
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Song Editor
The "Song Editor" (Figure 2.2, The Song Editor) gives an overview of the whole timeline of the song (e.g. intro, verse, bridge, chorus and so on); each blue
colored square on this panel represents a complete bar as shown in the underlying "Pattern Editor" panel. The song editor gives you complete freedom to
add/remove patterns to the song and to move or copy any part of your song.
Figure 2.2. The Song Editor
Main controls
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tempo to change and a window will pop up where you can enter the new tempo.
Once you have entered the new tempo and clicked OK, the tempo change will show up on the tempo ruler. If you click the Tempo marker again you can edit the
tempo, change the bar or delete the tempo marker.
In addidtion to changing the tempo when the song switches from intro > verse, it is also very handy to have a clear indication of this tempo switch (or any other
event in the song). For this purpose you can also ad Tags markers to the song. These Tags are short text messages you can add to your song at any given
moment that will be displayed whenever the song playhead passes by that Tag.
To add a Tag to your song simply middle-click on the song ruler (just below the tempo ruler) and a window will pop up where that allows you to add text for any
bar.
Once you are done you will see a small blue 'T' in the song ruler for every tag you have entered. Middle-click anywhere on the song ruler to edit the tags.
Now all we need is a way to see the tags we have entered. This can be done using the Director window. Open the Director by pressing Alt-D, or Tools- Director :
The Director is your best friend when you need a quick overview of what Hydrogen is currently doing. This comes in very handy when you are recording a song,
or if you are using Hydrogen live on stage.
The Director shows you the song name, a visual metronome and of course the song Tags. Just below the metronome you can see the latest tag, and below that
the next upcoming tag. This way you have a nice overview of what is going on, and what is about to happen in the song
Patterns options
Right-clicking the name of a pattern will show you a menu where you can change a number of things :
Figure 2.3. The Pattern Options menu
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Delete : will completely remove the selected pattern from the song.
Fill/Clear : will open a window that allows you to fill/clear a part of the song with the selected pattern by entering the start- and end bar.
Properties : will open a window where you can change the name of the pattern and also assign it to a certain category.
Load Pattern : will open the selected pattern in the Pattern Editor.
Save Pattern : will open the selected pattern in the Pattern Editor.
Virtual Pattern : will open the selected pattern in the Pattern Editor.
Virtual patterns are a convenient way of grouping patterns together. For example, say you have a song in which three patterns are always played together
at the start of each bar. Previously, the way to do this in the pattern matrix was to explicitly enable the three patterns at each bar.
With virtual patterns we can assign a pattern to be a sort of meta-pattern that implicitly invokes these three patterns together when the new virtual pattern
is enabled in the pattern matrix. This way, we only need to set one pattern every bar, instead of three.
Virtual patterns provide a function that's similar to the regular pattern editor, and one could argue that since a virtual pattern is also a regular pattern, we
could have just merged the three patterns into this new one. However, the advantage that virtual patterns provide is that if one of the original three patterns
changes, the virtual pattern automatically inherits the change. A virtual pattern can also invoke other virtual patterns.
Pattern Editor
The "Pattern Editor" lets us create or modify the pattern (bar) which is currently selected. You can add/remove notes, and tune a number of per-note properties
like velocity and pan. The Pattern Editor can be used in 2 modes : 'Drum' mode or 'Piano' mode. You can switch between these modes by clicking the Drum/Piano
button (located on the top-right of the Pattern Editor)
First let's take a look at the (classic) 'Drum' mode :
Figure 2.4. Pattern Editor in Drum mode
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SIZE : lets you choose the size of the pattern (the number of bars)
RES : this is the current grid resolution (4 through 64)
Remember this constraint concerning the grid: if you are working with a resolution of 16 you can't go back to 8 and remove a 16th note. On the other hand
if you are working with a resolution of 8 and you try to insert a note in the middle of two bars (looking for a 16 bars precision), notes will be placed in the
previous or in the following 8th bar. This constraint can be removed if you disable the whole grid resolution (choose "off" from the grid resolution LCD
control). Now you'll be able to place notes wherever you prefer.
HEAR : when enabled Hydrogen will play the sample as it's being added to the pattern.
QUANT : enables/disables quantization. When enabled the beats inserted will automatically respect the grid resolution currently applied.
Drumset / Instrument : when set to Drumset the keys on your midi keyboard will map to the instruments in your drumkit as described in the instrument
mapping table below. If you set it to Instrument the keys of your midi keyboard will trigger the instrument that is currently selected. The pitch of the
instrument will follow the key you press on your keyboard. This feature is mainly used for non-drum instruments. An example : if you use a sample of a
piano for one of your instruments, you will be able to 'play' that piano instrument using your keyboard just like you are playing a piano synth.
Note Length / Note off : these are 2 different ways to define the duration of a note. See the section called Pattern Editor Sequence area for usage.
Drum/Piano : switch Pattern Editor between Drum and Piano mode. (see below)
Each instrument has its own set of features that are accessible by right-clicking the instrument. From the context menu that pops up you can select
Clear notes : to remove all notes for this instrument in this pattern.
Fill notes : this allows you to fill up the pattern with notes for the selected instrument. Depending on the choice you make (fill all, fill 1/2, fill 1/4 ...) notes
will be placed at all, 1/2, 1/4, etc of the note positions that are allowed by the grid setting. So be careful not to mix up the 'musical' 1/2-note and the 'fill
1/2' note.
Randomize velocity : automatically apply a pseudo-random velocity to each note of that instrument in the pattern. The more velocity you set on the
instrument, the more hydrogen will hit hard on that instrument when played.
Delete Instrument : well, deletes the instrument ;-)
The small red and green buttons right of the instrument names are the mute (red) and solo (green) buttons.
The order of the instruments can be rearranged by simply dragging an instrument up/down in the list and dropping it on a new position within the drumkit. Doing
so will not change anything to the sequence you have created for that instrument, nor will it change anything to the song or pattern you are working on. It will
however, have an impact on the MIDI note mapping : in the table below you can find the link between the instrument position, the MIDI note and the qwerty
keyboard keys.
Important Notes :
The name of the instrument depends on the drumkit that is loaded. This list below refers to the GMkit that is loaded by default.
Keep in mind that it is the position of the instrument (within the loaded drumkit) that is linked to a MIDI-note/keyboard-key and not the name of the instrument.
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(Figure above, from left>right : a 'normal' note, a note in 'note length' mode, a note in 'note off' mode)
So far we have only used the mouse to create a pattern, but you can also record your beats by clicking the Record button
(see the section called Main
menu) and simply playing your pattern on your MIDI drum or your pc keyboard (see instrument mapping above). This is probably a more musical way of creating
a pattern, but it's up to you to decide what works best for you. (Also see Chapter 3, A new song for a basic walk-through of how the pattern editor works)
The striped black and white area represents a piano keyboard and in the gray area you can choose the octave. By placing a dot on the octave scale and a
dot on the 'keyboard' you can choose any note.
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Mixer
The Mixer window can be opened by pressing Alt+M, by clicking Mixer in the Tools menu, or by clicking the Mixer button on the main toolbar.
The Mixer consists of 3 sections (left>right) : the instrument channel strips, the FX plugin rack and the master fader section. The Hydrogen Mixer works very
much like a hardware mixer does : it lets you set the volume, pan, FX and several other things for every instrument.
Figure 2.7. The Mixer
and Solo
buttons and the Pan(orama) knob. Note that the Mute and Solo states are also reflected in the Song editor.
Next are 4 pre-fader FX send knobs that determine how much of this instrument will be sent to the effect plugins in the FX rack.
Just below that you can find an LCD peak-value display, and finally the volume fader and VU meter for that instrument.
IMPORTANT NOTE : keep in mind that the volume and pan settings that you find on the Mixer are global settings. The per-note velocity and pan settings in the
Pattern editor are settings that are relative to the settings in the Mixer window !
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Plugins Kill
A LADSPA plugin is compiled, executable code. It is capable of hanging, crashing, freezing, screeching, overflowing buffers, and even phoning
home. If you start having issues with Hydrogen, disable your plugins and see if things improve. Some plugins are not designed for real-time use,
and some are just plain better than others.
Once you have installed some plugins you can select one by clicking the
Master section) is enabled)
button. (if you do not see the FX rack, make sure that the
Once you have selected a plugin you will immediately have access to the parameters of that plugin :
You can select another plugin by clicking the 'Select FX' button, and If you quickly want to enable/disable the effect click the 'Deactivate' button (or the Bypass (
) button in the FX rack). This can be handy for a quick A/B comparison.
After you have selected the FX and tweaked it's parameters you can use the FX return knob to increase/decrease how much of this FX will be returned to the
master output.
Master section
The Master section contains the Master volume fader with VU meters, and 3 global Humanize 'effects' (Velocity, Timing and Swing). These are not the type of
effects as described in the LADSPA section, instead these effects will alter the way the notes are played, in order to add a 'human feel' to the song :
Velocity : this knob will add a certain randomness to the note velocity. The higher you turn this knob, the more the velocity will be randomized.
Timing : this knob will add a certain randomness to the note timing (lead/lag). The higher you turn this knob, the more the timing will be randomized.
Swing : this knob will add a certain amount of swing to the song.
Note that Hydrogen can also be switched to 'per instrument output' mode (see the section called The Audio System tab), and in this mode all channel strip
outputs will be available in Jack (not just the Master output). This allows you to route the individual instruments directly into any other Jack enabled application (eg
Ardour) and gives you a lot more flexibility.
On the bottom-right of the Master section you can find the' FX' button (show/hide the FX rack), and the 'Peak' button (enable/disable the VU meters).
that the VU meter fallof speed can be configured in the preferences window (see the section called The Appearance tab) each instrument switching the
button. See next section for a detailed overview.
Note
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As you can see the Soundlibrary contains all Drumkits (System- and User drumkits), your saved Patterns and your saved Songs. Each Drumkit is a collection of a
number of instruments (snare, kick, sampled voice, bass sound ...) and in its turn an instrument can consist of multiple layered samples. Note that every block has
a number of parameters (continue reading for more details).
This said. let's take a look at the Soundlibrary interface and see what it can do for you:
The Sound Library saves you time in managing your drum kits, favorite patterns, and favorite songs. When making new songs and drum kits, the Sound Library
makes it easier for you to reuse and mix the instruments and patterns from other kits and songs.
Figure 2.10. The Soundlibrary
System Drumkits
This lists the drumkits that were installed by your system administrator. The location of these System Drumkits is determined by the compile-time prefix. On
Unix-like operating systems, this is usually /usr/share/hydrogen/data/drumkits, or possibly /usr/local/share/hydrogen/data/drumkits. These kits are available
to all users on the system, and users are usually not able to add to them.
To load a drumkit from here, right-click the drumkit and select Load. This will replace your current drumkit with the one that you selected. To load a single
instrument from that kit, left-click the plus to the left of the drumkit's name to show all the instruments. With your left mouse button, click and drag the instrument
into your current kit. The instrument will be added to the drumkit that you currently have loaded.
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If you select one of the drumkits you will see info about this kit in the right pane of the Import window : name, description, author and also the license type.
Warning
If you are using Hydrogen for commercial purposes, (creating songs and selling these on-line or in any other way) you need to pay special
attention to the license type of the drumkit(s) you are using.
If the exact license is not available for a drumkit, do _NOT_ assume that it is a CC (or other open and free license type).
Even if the kit is CC licensed you should always check with the author before using the kit in your songs.
DISCLAIMER : hydrogen is not responsible for the drumkits that are made available for download by our users, either via the hydrogenmusic.org site or via any other channel.
You can install a drumkit by selecting it and clicking 'Download and Install'.
Once the kit has been downloaded it will be available in the Sound Library under User drumkits.
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Gain
Volume adjustment.
Velocity
How hard you hit a note.
ADSR Envelope Generator
An Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release envelope generator. After you trigger a note, Hydrogen will attack the note by increasing its volume from 0 to the full
velocity of the note. After reaching full velocity, it will decay the note by lowering the volume until it reaches the sustain level. When the note is released,
Hydrogen reduces the volume from the sustain level back down to 0. See ADSR Envelope for more info
Attack
The amount of time to go from 0 to full velocity.
Decay
The amount of time to go from full velocity to the sustain volume.
Sustain
The level (how loud) to hold the note between the sustain and the release. It is a percentage of the velocity. It does not depend on time.
Release
The amount of time to go from the sustain volume back down to 0.
Typical samples that are used in Hydrogen are: the sound of a single drum hit, the sound of a single cymbal hit, the sound of a single cowbell hit. Whenever you
put a note in the pattern (or play a note using MIDI), Hydrogen will play whatever sound you have loaded. So, to put together a drum kit you need to gather short
recordings of the bass drum, each tom, each cymbal, the high hat open, the high hat closed, the snare drum (snare on), the snare drum (snare off), rim shots, etc.
However, there are no rules about what a sample can be. It's not uncommon to use Hydrogen to trigger non-drum sounds like: audio clips of people talking, a clip
from a song, sound effects, audio clips from movies, and famous people speaking. Be creative!
Instrument Parameters
In the instrument editor, click on the General button. Here you can adjust several parameters that are apply to the whole instrument (not for each layer).
Figure 2.12. The Instrument editor General view
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Random Pitch
It's important that you understand the section called Concepts in order to continue on.
Envelope Parameters
When the instrument is triggered, its volume is run through an ADSR Envelope. The parameters operate as follows:
Attack the amount of time that the volume of the sample goes from 0 to the full velocity of the note. If the value is 0, the sample will play immediately at
full velocity. If the value is 1.0, the sample volume will use the maximum time available for the attack parameter. [1]
Decay the amount of time for the volume of the sample to go from full velocity down to the sustain volume. If the value is 0, the sample will immediately
skip from the attack volume to the sustain volume. If the value is 1.0, the sample volume will use the maximum time available for the decay parameter.[1]
Sustain the volume to play the note after the decay phase is over, and until the note is released. If set to 0, the note will be silent. If set to 1.0, the note
will play at full velocity.
Release the time to fade out the note from the sustain volume back down to 0 (silent). If set to 0, the note will fade out in the minimum amount of time
(about 5 ms). If set to 1, it will fade out for the maximum time available.[1]
If the sample is shorter than the times that you specify, the sample will end, regardless of which phase of the ADSR it is in. If the note is sustained, it does not
draw out the note while you are holding it. It only holds the gain (volume) parameter during that time.
Gain and Mute Group
The gain sets the overall volume for the sample. This gain is applied after the gain that you set for the layer, and before the gain that is set for the mixer. If the
Gain is 0, the instrument will be silent. If the gain is 1.0 the volume of the samples will not be adjusted (i.e. 0 dB). If the gain is set higher, the samples will be
amplified.
Warning
It is very easy to set the Gain too high, causing your sample to clip. Remember to test the gain with full-velocity notes. If you clip your signal
here, it will only get worse as Hydrogen processes it.
Hydrogen provides more mute groups than you know what to do with (over 256). A mute group is a grouping of instruments that are mutually exclusive only
one instrument may be playing at any time. If one is playing and another instrument in the group is triggered, it will immediately silence (mute) and start playing
the other instrument. This is useful, especially, for instruments like hi-hats where the open sound and the closed sound are different instruments.
If the mute group is set to Off, then the instrument is not part of any mute grouping. If the mute group is set to any number, then that is the group that the
instrument is a part of. To set other instruments into the same grouping, set their mute group parameter to the same number. (For example, to group all the
high-hat instruments, you can set all their mute group parameters to 1. To have a snare drum mute group, set their mute group parameters to 2.)
Filter and Random Pitch
The filter is a low-pass resonance filter. If you don't wish to use is, click the BYPass button so that it's red. If it's not red, then the filter is active. The cutoff
parameter adjusts the cutoff frequency for the filter. The resonance parameter adjusts how much to resonate the cutoff frequency. If the resonance is set to 0,
then the filter is just a simple low-pass filter.
Note
The cutoff frequency of the filter varies with the sample rate of your audio card. The range of the knob (0 to 1.0) is optimized for a 48,000 kHz
sample rate.
The random pitch parameter allows you to randomly vary the pitch of the sample every time it is triggered. The value is set between 0 and 1.0. The pitch change
is fairly small: 2 half-steps value. Using this sparingly can help your sequences to sound more like a real drummer.
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The velocity setting for the layer is 0-velocity on the left, and full velocity on the right. Set up Layer 1 to sound for soft notes, and Layer 2 to sound for hard notes.
(I.e. Layer 1 on the left and Layer 2 on the right.)
Now, in the pattern area, set up a simple pattern that plays this instrument. Adjust the velocity settings on each note so that you can get the different samples to
sound. Now set the pattern to loop and notice how your different samples are getting triggered. (To learn about editing a pattern, see the section called Pattern
Editor)
For each layer, you can set the Gain and the Pitch. The pitch also has a Fine adjustment.
Use the Gain adjustment to control how loud the sample will play. This is necessary because it's extremely difficult to get a set of samples that all sound at about
the same volume. By adjusting here, the samples that were recorded too quietly can be turned up to match your loud samples (that had to be turned down).
Warning
It is very easy to set the Gain too high, causing your sample to clip. Remember to test the gain with full-velocity notes. If you clip your signal
here, it will only get worse as Hydrogen processes it.
The pitch of the sample can be modified with the pitch controls. The Pitch knob adjust the pitch in musical half-steps. (So, -12 is down 1 octave). The pitch on the
right adjusts the pitch 50 cents. (One half-step is 100 cents.)
Note
The pitch is adjusted by playing the sample back faster or slower. This is called the Doppler Effect. So, if you have a 1-second sample that you
turn down -12 (1 octave), your sample will only last for .5-seconds. If you do not want this to happen you should use rubberband instead (see the
section called Sample Editor rubberband)
You can hear the sample in a layer by clicking the layer id (just below the 'General' and 'Layers' buttons) and the 'Delete Layer' button will delete the currently
selected layer.
Sample Editor
So far we have created a multilayered Drumkit, set a number of instrument parameters, played with velocity settings and so on. Now it's time to go one step
deeper and edit the samples using one of the newest Hydrogen features : the Sample Editor.
The Sample Editor allows you to tweak and manipulate your samples. This is a function that will really speed up the creation of a drumkit since you can do the
fine-tunning of the sample within Hydrogen. In pre-0.9.5 builds the typical workflow would be to prepare your sample in an external sound editor, import the
sample in Hydrogen, test it, go back to the audio editor, import again, test ... The sample editor allows you to do most of the sample manipulation within
Hydrogen. This mean less switching between Hydrogen and your audio editor and more time to make music !
NOTE : the changes you make to your samples in the Sample Editor are non-destructive and are saved per song. So the original sample will not be changed,
and you can reuse the same sample in multiple songs with different Sample Editor settings.
Figure 2.14. The Sample Editor
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The Sample Editor consists of 3 sections (as indicated in the figure above):
Sample Editor in/out points
In this section you can set the start, stop and loop points for the sample by dragging the the 3 markers :
S-marker (green) : indicates the Start-point (in-point) of the sample.
E-marker (red) : indicates the End-point (out-point) of the sample.
L-marker (blue) : determines the loop-in point of your sample
You can easily move one of the markers by grabbing them close to the letter that marks them. Whenever you grab one of the markers you will see a detail view of
the position of that marker on the second (smaller) window on the right, making it easy to find the zero-crossings in the sample. This detail window also has a
slider next to it that allows you to zoom in and out on the vertical axis. Think of it as a sort of volume 'zoom'.
Underneath these 2 windows you can find (from left>right) : the position of the Start marker, the position of the Loop marker, the Loop mode, the number of loops
and the position of the End marker. The position of the markers is expressed in number of samples from the very beginning of the sample. These values will
change if you drag the markers, but you can also fine-tune the marker position by using the up/down arrows of the spinboxes, the up/down keys on your
keyboard, or by using your mouse scroll wheel while hovering above the spinboxes.
Apart from the marker positions there are 2 settings that apply to the Sample Editor's loop function : loop mode and loop number. With the loop function you can
repeat the part of your sample that is in between the Loop- and the End-marker.. The way it is looped is determined by the Loop mode (forward, revers or
ping-pong) and the number of times it is looped is determined by the Loop number.
If you want to hear a preview of the tweaking you have done so far, you first need to press the 'Apply Changes' button (@ the bottom of section 3) and then the
Play button to hear the result.
Sample Editor rubberband
This section of the Sample Editor allows you to control the Rubberband settings. Rubberband is a tool that can change the tempo of a sample without changing
the sample's pitch (and vice versa).
If you are using Ubuntu you can install rubberband from the Software Center (rubberband-cli). For other linux distros check your package manager. For other
platforms please check the rubberband site . After installing rubberband you should check if the path to the rubberband cli is configured correctly (see the section
called The General tab).
If rubberband is installed correctly you will have access to the rubberband settings, and an extra button named 'RUB' will be available in the Main Toolbar, right of
the BPM LCD display :
Note : If you want Hydrogen to recalculate the sample length on the fly (using rubberband) you must enable the 'RUB' button (see figure above).
Sample Editor volume/pan
In the bottom section of the Sample Editor you can see the end result of the tweaks you have made by pressing the Apply Changes button. You can also change
the the Volume and Panorama (Pan) of your sample here. This is done by creating 'envelopes' like the ones you find in numerous DAW's for (parameter)
automation. To edit an envelope you first need to select 'Volume' or 'Panorama'in the upper right corner of section 3. The Volume envelope is blue, the pan
envelope is yellow. Left clicking in the bottom window will ad a node to an envelope, and also allows you to drag an existing node. Right-clicking a node will delete
it. Don't forget to Apply Changes before you play your tweaked sample.
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Midi actions
In this section you can find more info about defining MIDI actions and how these can be useful for you. Before you can work with midi actions you should have
your Midi devices, drivers and connections configured correctly (see the section called The Midi System tab)
Lets take a look at the available actions :
An Event is an incoming Midi message, and the Action describes what Hydrogen should do whenever that Event is detected.
If you take a look at the Events list you will see that there are 3 types of Events available (as described in the Midi standard):
NOTE : input coming from a regular black/white key of a keyboard or a drumpad
CC : controller commands coming from faders or rotary controllers
MMC_x : machine control events coming from play/stop... buttons on a controller
The Param. (parameter) value right of the Event is the identifier of the note/button/controller that is linked to this Action. This parameter can be entered manually,
or automatically by using the Midi learn function (see the section called The Midi System tab).
Note
You can also activate the Midi learn function by Shift-clicking most of the gui elements. A 'Waiting for Midi input...' popup informs you that
Hydrogen is now waiting for you to press a key or turn/move a controller.
If you Shift-click on a gui element that does not support Midi automation a popup will inform you about this.
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[1] The
attack, decay, and release parameters are all set by the number of audio samples. This means that the time changes depending on the sample rate of your
sound card. The max time for each of them is 100,000 audio samples (typ. 2.27 sec at 44.1 kHz).
A new pattern
We'll start from an empty song with an empty pattern, as created by default: "pattern" mode should be selected now. It is also possible to change name of the
pattern. Now let's click on the Play button and while the pattern is playing let's add notes in the grid of the Song Editor (Figure 3.1, The Pattern Editor) simply
left_mouse_clicking on it: adjust grid resolution and BPM speed if needed. Remember some constraints of the grid: if you are working with a resolution of 16 you
can't go back to 8 and remove a 16th note; same thing happens if you are working with a resolution of 8 and you try to insert a note in the middle of two bars
(looking for a 16 bars precision): they will be placed on the previous or on the following 8th bar (unless you choose off from the Grid Resolution LCD, in this case
you're free to place notes wherever you prefer). Be sure to select the correct pattern in the Song Editor before adding notes in the Pattern Editor!
Figure 3.1. The Pattern Editor
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A new sequence
Once patterns are created (Figure 3.2, Inserting Notes in a Pattern), we can copy/paste/delete them simply dragging with the mouse (activate the select mode
for the Song Editor and keep pressed left mouse button to select those you want to move or copy).
Figure 3.2. Inserting Notes in a Pattern
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Glossary
This is a glossary of general terms encountered when using Hydrogen, synthesizers, drums, or samplers. The definitions in the text are simplified, but the
definitions here are more general and have more explanation. For example, the text of the manual would have you believe that an ADSR is the only kind of
envelope generator, and could only ever control the volume. While it's simple for new users, it's not quite right.
ADSR
A type of envelope generator that allows you to control the Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release parameters. Generally, the parameters are proportional to
the velocity.
In Hydrogen, the ADSR envelope generator only controls the volume (attenuation).
Read more about this in the Wikipedia Article ADSR Envelope
See Also Envelope Generator, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release.
Attack
This is the first phase of an ADSR envelope, and is the amount of time to turn the parameter up from 0 to full velocity after triggering the note.
See Also ADSR.
Attenuation
In filters and mixers, this the amount that a signal is reduced (volume).
See Also Roll-off.
Band-Pass Filter
A filter that preserves a certain band of frequencies, and attenuates (silences) all others. This is often done by combining a high-pass and a low-pass filter.
See Also Filter, High-Pass Filter, Low-Pass Filter.
Clipping
A phenomenon that happens to a signal when the signal is too large for whatever is receiving it. The peaks of the signal (which are normally smooth
curves) get cut off straight at the max volume (clipped). This distorts the sound and is usually undesirable.
An example of clipping is when you play music louder than your speaker can handle. Parts of the music sound harsh and fuzzy.
Cutoff Frequency
On high-pass and low-pass filters, this is the frequency that divides between those that pass, and those that are attenuated (silenced). In a high-pass
resonance filter, or a low-pass resonance filter, the cutoff is also the frequency zone that gets boosted.
For example, if you have a low-pass filter and you set the cutoff frequency high (i.e. 20kHz)... the filter will not affect the sound. All the audible frequencies
will pass through undisturbed. As you lower the cutoff frequency to something like 40 Hz (the low string on a bass guitar), it sounds like someone is putting
a blanket over the speaker. The higher frequencies are being attenuated above 30 Hz.
See Also Filter, High-Pass Filter, Low-Pass Filter, Resonance Filter.
Decay
After reaching full velocity from the attack, this is the amount of time to turn the parameter down from full velocity to the sustain level.
See Also ADSR.
Envelope Generator
A way to control (change) a parameter over time as a response to triggering, holding, and releasing a note.
Did your eyes just glaze over? Let's try again:
Imagine that you're playing a note on the keyboard and you have your other hand on a knob (volume, filter cutoff, etc.). As you play the note, you twist the
knob (often up, then down... or down, then up). You do the same thing on each note. That's what an envelope generator does. See also ADSR
Fader
A slider control used to adjust the attenuation (volume) in a mixer. Faders always have an "audio" taper, which means that the attenuation amount changes
on an exponential scale.
Filter
A device that changes a sound by attenuating specific frequencies. A tone knob is an example of a simple, low-pass filter.
See Also Band-Pass Filter, High-Pass Filter, Low-Pass Filter, Resonance Filter.
Gain
In an amplifier, this adjust how much (or how little) a signal is amplified (volume). A higher gain value is a louder signal.
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High-Pass Filter
A filter that attenuates (silences) low frequencies, but allows high frequencies to pass through.
See Also Filter, Cutoff Frequency.
Instrument
In Hydrogen, an instrument is a single noise-maker (like a bass drum kick, or a tom).
Layer
In an instrument you can load several different samples (each one called a layer), and have a different sample play depending on the velocity of the note.
Only one sample at a time will play.
Suppose you have a sample of a floor tom being struck softly. If you simply play the sample louder it will not sound the same as a real tom that has
been struck very hard. If you wish to mimic this in your instrument, you can load one sample for soft playing, and a different sample for loud playing.
See Also Instrument.
Low-Pass Filter
A filter that attenuates (silences) high frequencies, but allows low frequencies to pass through.
See Also Filter, Cutoff Frequency.
Mute
To make no noise. A setting on an instrument that prevents any audio output.
Mute Group
A group of instruments (samples) that should mute (stop playing) immediately after another instrument in the group is triggered.
This is typically used in hi-hats, where there's a different instrument (sample) for when the hi-hat is open or closed. With a real hi-hat, the sound of the
open hi-hat will stop as soon as you close it. However, if you use two samples the open sound will continue even after you have triggered the closed
sound. By placing both instruments in the same mute group (group #1, for example)... triggering closed sound will immediately stop the open sound (and
vice versa).
Octave
A span of frequencies where the top-most frequency is exactly twice the frequency of the bottom frequency.
For example, the range 20 Hz to 40 Hz is an octave. So is 120 Hz to 240 Hz, and 575 Hz to 1150 Hz. While the frequency differences are very different (20
Hz, 120 Hz, and 575 Hz, respectively), to the human ear they sound like the same distance.
Release
After the note is released, this is the amount of time to reduce the parameter from the sustain level to 0.
See Also ADSR.
Resonance
When referring to a resonance filter, this is the parameter that determines how much of a boost (gain) to give the frequencies at the cutoff.
See Also Resonance Filter.
Resonance Filter
A filter that gives a large boost to a very narrow range of frequencies. Typically it will be part of a high-pass or a low-pass filter, where the boosted
frequencies are centered on the cut-off frequency.
See Also Filter, Cutoff Frequency, Resonance.
Roll-off
This is the amount that frequencies are attenuated (suppressed) as the frequency changes (typically measured in dB/octave).
For example, in a low-pass filter the frequencies below the cutoff frequency are not attenuated (they pass-through with the same volume). Same with the
cutoff frequency. As you go above the cutoff frequency, the frequencies that are near the cutoff frequency are not attenuated very much at all. However, the
frequencies that are much higher than the cutoff are attenuated (suppressed) a lot. This is usually approximated by a straight line (on a log scale) and
measured in in dB of attenuation per octave of frequency.
See Also Attenuation, Filter.
Sample
A short recording of a sound, typically between .1 and 3.0 seconds long.
Sustain
The level to hold the parameter after finishing the decay time. This level will be maintained until the not is released.
See Also ADSR.
Velocity
How hard you hit a note.
MIDI devices are required to send this information along with the note. Synthesizers use this information to adjust several parameters on the sample
(typically the volume). In Hydrogen, it is only used to adjust how loud the sample is played back.
If you liked hydrogen, buy us some beer.
thx.
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