Now here's the really tricky part to explain, but it's also what makes buzz different and in many people's eyes better than rebirth, reality, reaktor and other softwaresynths. If you've followed my tutorial you've read about the machine window, the pattern editor and the sequence editor so far, now we'll dig deeper into the pattern editor and learn how to make the machines sound.

-The first step

Go to the machine window and create a jeskola bass 3, a jeskola delay and a trilok if you do not already have that setup from back when you read up on the pattern editor. Connect the bass 3 to the delay and then connect the delay to the master, also connect the trilok to the master. If you have problems creating and connecting the machines just go back to the machine window section and read up on it again. Now create a pattern for both the bass 3 and the trilok if buzz has not already done this for you.

-The bass3 machine

Open an empty pattern with the bass 3 and try moving the marker around to the different columns, notice how there's an explaining text on the bottom of buzz. This tells you what that parameter value changes, bass 3 has resonance, cutoff frequency, cutoff envelope modulation, cutoff envelope decay, waveform, volume, length of note and the two note values. The reason to why there are two note values is that one of them is the actual note while the other is the note it will slide to. The second note parameter is in other words only used you you want to do a noteslide. Note that the note values are always 3 dots long in the synths, if its a drum machine it's more likely it will use a trigger [0-1] where 0 is off and 1 is a drum hit. It could also use volume, where an empty 2 dots long row is seen as 0 and means no hit and 80 or perhaps FE is maximum volume and means hit.

-Programming the bass3 machine

To understand the tracking interface we need to take a closer look on the keyboard. Click the link below and a new browser window will be opened, either print the picture or click your way back to this window and use it as a reference when we start practicing the techniques.

Keyboard Layout

Here's the really neat part about buzz and other trackers for that matter, your computer keyboard will work like a piano. C - C# - D equals the base octave C+1 - C#+1 - D+1 equals the octave above the base octave. The base octave in buzz is defined by a parameter number which is placed on the upper right side of the pattern editor window. When you start buzz this will always be set to 4, so pressing the Z key on your keyboard will record a C-4 in your pattern. This is also why there are three empty dots for the note parameter, a pure note will be shown as X-X (C-4) and a raised note will be shown as X#X (C#4). At a first look it may seem like you only have two octaves to play around with, in reality you have 10, try changing the octave with the [/] and [*] keys placed on the numlock pad.

-Explanation of some tracking commands

Note off - [1]
Some generators do not use note length commands, like the jeskola organ. Instead you have to stop the note from playing when you want it to be silent. This you do by placing a note off command.

Clear field - [.]
This is the command you use to erase a note, a trigger or a parameter in a pattern. Just place the marker on top of the field you want to erase and press the . button

Goto sequence editor - [return]
This is the perfect quick command, just press the return button when in the pattern editor and you will end up directly in the sequence editor. When you are in the sequence editor, note that the machine and the pattern the marker is currently on is the one you will jump back to when pressing return again.

Move to next track - [tab]
In some machines the pattern will have different tracks for the parameters and the notes. This will be seen as a space between them, by pressing the tab key you can jump from the parameter track to the note track, press shift+tab to jump to the previous track. When programming something like an organ you will likely have more than 4 note tracks, this is the perfect way to jump between them, it is also useable in the trackers.

Octave up, down - [/] , [*]
Use this to quickly choose between the octaves.

Cycle pattern up, down - [-] , [+]
Cycles between a machines different patterns.

Insert row, delete row - [insert] , [del]
this inserts an empty row, or deletes the row under the marker. Note that there is no undo in buzz, so be careful when using this command.

-Creating a short bass loop

Go to the sequence editor, make sure the jeskola bass 3 is added there, if not : press ctrl+enter and choose the bass3 from the list. If you have a pattern for the bass 3 this will now be shown in the list to the right when placing the maker in the bass3 row. Most likely you will have a pattern called 00 there, beside it is the key you place that pattern with, in this case it should be 0. 00. This means the 0 key on your keyboard will place the pattern named 00, place 00 in the top of the bass3 row and press the play button. Go back to the pattern editor, make sure you have selected bass3 and pattern 00 in the menus. Now a bar should be scrolling over your screen, this is the play bar that reads the parameters in your patterns. If you have some notes you should now hear sounds as the bar scrolls over them. Erase the notes in the pattern by placing the marker on top of them pressing the [.] button.

Now here's how to do a loop, note how the pattern has rows with darker markings, place a C-4 on each of them. You've now made a very simple 4/4 bassline, try changing the parameters while the song is looping. A low resonance and low cutoff setting will add a boomy bassy sound, while a high setting will add a sharper screamier sound. Try changing the waveform and listen to what sounds the 6 different waveforms are able to produce. You can also do a noteslide, to do this however you must also alter the note length parameter, since this is set to 1tick, meaning that a note slide is not possible since you need a longer note to hear a slide. You can also add another track in the bass3 generator, you do this by pressing ctrl and + or rightclicking choosing add track. This will make a whole new bass 3 right beside the one you already have, by doing this you will be able to play multiple notes at once, allowing you to make chords and more advanced melodies. Note that the new track can have a whole different sound than the first track, changing the parameters in the first track will not change them in the second one. This however differs from machine to machine, some will only place a new note row while others, like the trilok won't allow you to create new tracks at all. Now play around adding and removing notes in the tracks you've made to make your own melodies, go to the next step when you are ready to learn more.

-Creating a trilok drum loop

Do exactly like you did with the bass3, place a pattern in the sequencer and make sure the song is looping. Go back to the pattern editor, choose the trilok and pattern 00, note how it only has 4 different parameters. The first one is the trigger, where 1 is hit and 0 means no hit, an empty space refers to the default value which is no hit. The second one is the tone, a low tone makes a bassy sound a high tone makes a sharper sound. The third is the decay where a low setting makes a short bassdrum and a high setting makes a longer bassdrum. The fourth is the volume setting which pretty much speaks for itself. Try placing some triggers and see what happens, now you can do a straight 4/4 beat or experiment by placing them more randomly. You will now have a simple song with a bassline and a bassdrum playing a short loop.

Here's a small example of what this could sound like, note that i used 3 tracks in the bass3 to add some depth to it. Download the bmx and compare it to what you did, this may give you many new ideas.

Mp3 - Realaudio - Bmx

The right way to go from here is to download a couple of songs and then examine them instrument by instrument, pattern by pattern, row by row. Try making similar things, learn from other trackers, send your stuff around to people on the net and listen to some criticism to know what was good and what was bad about your material. Never ever be afraid to experiment and try as many styles as you can. Listen to cd's of your favourite artists for inspiration and new ideas.

next - [understanding the wavetable window]

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©2000 - newt