LIQUID RHYTHM USER MANUAL

9.1.1 Strong, Medium, and Weak

Each 8th note beat in a 4/4 bar has unique rhythmic significance. This musical nuance is visualized in Liquid Rhythm using dark, medium, and light tones of red and blue; these three tones are referred to as:

(image of each next to each of the below)

Strong
Medium
Weak

Tip: Blue blocks represent note groupings of two and red blocks represent groupings of three.

9.1.2 Accent Modifier Target Buttons

Accent modifiers target the velocity and groove of a note(s) based on their positions within a beat or an entire bar. To toggle focus between the notes in a bar and the notes in a beat, click the Accent Modifiers Target buttons.

• BeatForm targets all the notes grouped by the smaller step sequencer.
• BarForm targets all the notes grouped by the larger step sequencer.

(image of BeatForm/BarForm radio button and image highlighting the targeting on the Molecule)

9.1.3 Velocity Sliders

Velocity Sliders target the velocity, or volume, as well as timbre of a sound(s) based on their position within the whole bar or single beat.

(image on right, annotated by this text on the right of the image:)

Click the slider and drag up or down using your mouse to increase or decrease velocity.

(same image also annotated on left/below by this text:)

Humanize the velocity of your beat by dragging the handles above and below the sliders. Random velocity values within the slider’s range will be applied to the selection.

Velocity Sliders in Action

(annotated image, labeled counterclockwise / left-to-right/down with the following 3:)

All the notes in the strong positions have lower velocities.

Hovering over a slider highlights the affected notes. In this case, all the notes occurring on the weak beats are lit up.

Notice that changes are being applied at the BarForm level.

9.1.4 Groove Sliders

Groove Sliders target the groove, or offset of time, of notes or groups of notes based on their position within a bar or beat.

(image on right, annotated by this text on the right of the image:)

Click the slider and drag left or right to move the notes earlier or later in time.

(same image also annotated on left/below by this text:)

Humanize the groove of your beat by dragging the handles to the left and right of the sliders. Note that random groove values within the sliders’ range will be generated.

Groove Sliders in Action

(annotated image, labeled counterclockwise / left-to-right/down with the following 2:)

Liquid Rhythm helps you keep track of what you’re editing: Hovering over a slider highlights the affected notes. In this case, all the notes occurring on the Strong ( IMAGE ) beats are lit up.

Notice that the Notes in the Beat are being targeted.

9.1.5 Learn, Apply, Auto, Reset Buttons

(image of the 4 buttons in the center, labeled with each of the following:)

Learn the velocity and groove values from the currently selected region(s) in the Arranger.

Apply the velocity and groove values of the current sliders to all selected regions in the Arranger.

When enabled, Auto adjusts velocity and groove settings to reflect the selected region(s) in the Arranger.

Reset the velocity and groove values of the selected region(s) in the Arranger to defaults.

9.2.1 Interacting with Individual BeatForms

The individual BeatForms in the BeatForm Palette are interactive objects.

• Drag-and-drop them onto tracks in the arranger to manually build rhythm patterns with note clusters.
• Drag-and-drop them into the BeatWeaver panel to populate the In, Mid, Out Grid.
• Select the BeatForm you want to draw or paint with in BeatForm Edit mode.

(original manual has image for the first bullet but we maybe can do all 3?)

9.2.2 BeatForm Palette List

Liquid Rhythm contains a list of factory sets of BeatForms including Suggested, Simple, Standard, Binary, Triplet Swing, and Glitch.

Add and Remove BeatForm Sets

Use the Plus button beneath the list the create a customizable User Set. If needed, click the Minus button to delete a user set.

Zoom Into the BeatForm Palette

The Magnifying Glass zooms into the Palette to give you a better look at the note clusters.

9.2.3 How the BeatForm Palette affects other features

The following features and Molecule Tools in Liquid Rhythm are directly affected by the list you select in the BeatForm Palette:

Tip: More information on how these features are affected can be found in this chapter in their respective sections.

(should do links instead of this tip)

9.3.1 Random BarForm

(image next to heading displaying the Random BarForm slider cropped to fit)

Activate BarForm to populate the selected region(s) in the Arranger with a BarForm(s) from the BarForm List. Click the arrow to the right of the slider to reveal a drop-down menu. It’s divided into two sections:

(in original manual, image fits on right so the two sections below are above/below the separator in the menu)

Random BarForm Source

1. The upper section of the drop-down menu is where you choose the list that the random BarForms will be chosen from.

Slider Behavior

2. The lower section of the drop-down menu defines the slider behavior:
   1. Slider indicates likelihood of change: The BarForm slider will indicate the likelihood that each of the selected bars will change when “Surprise Me!” is hit.
   2. Slider indicates how different from previous: The BarForm slider will indicate how different the generated beat can be from the current one.
   3. Slider indicates target amount of activity: The BarForm slider will indicate how dense the generated beat should be.

9.3.2 Random BeatForm

(image next to heading displaying the Random BeatForm slider cropped to fit)

Activate Random BeatForm to populate the selected region(s) in the Arranger with a BeatForm(s) from the BeatForm Palette or BeatForm Sequencer. Click the arrow to the right of the slider to reveal a drop-down menu. It’s divided into two sections:

(image of dropdown menu again placed to the right of the text below w/ sectional association)

Random BeatForm Source

• The upper section of the drop-down menu is where you can select the source of the random BeatForm.
• Note that selecting Follow Beat Sequencer means that these results will be directly linked to the contents of the BeatForm Palette.

Repeat BeatForm on Accents

• The lower section of the drop-down menu features an option to Repeat BeatForm on Accents. Basically, this locks the same randomly generated BeatForm into each accent position (strong/medium/weak).

For example, in the image below:

(image next to each of the below of the BeatForms)

8th notes BeatForms are repeated on the strong beats (or the four dark blue positions).

32nd note BeatForms are repeated on the weaker beats (or the four light blue positions).

(image below of the resultant BarForm)

9.3.3 Collaborate

(image next to heading displaying the Collaborate slider cropped to fit)

When Collaborate is active, it prevents notes from overlapping across each track – no two notes
playing at the same time across the random generation. We call this “collaborate” because (in a
sense) multiple drum instruments are collaborating on one distinct performance pattern.

Click the arrow to the right of the slider to reveal a drop-down menu. It’s divided into three sections:

(image staggered about text similar to above sections this chapter)

The image below is an example of Collaborate in action. Note that the tracks have been folded to display the whole arrangement. The settings here are:

• Collaborate on Notes
• Sine
• Cluster Count: 3

(image of resultant shape / generated rhythm pattern)

9.3.4 Random Velocity and/or Groove

(image next to heading displaying the Velocity/Groove slider cropped to fit)

The Random Velocity and/or Groove slider lets you control the amount of randomness in the new velocity, groove, or both velocity and groove values chosen. The higher the slider value, the more the velocity will vary.

To select which parameter you want to control, click the arrow to show the drop-down menu and select either:

• Velocity
• Groove
• Velocity and Groove

Tip: A great trick to humanize an entire beat very quickly is to select every region in the arranger, tune down the velocity, and click Surprise Me!

(image of the menu being accessed)

9.4.1 Understanding the GrooveMover

Every 4/4 bar used in Liquid Rhythm is categorized by four unique rhythmic accent patterns (the uppermost row of colors in the image above). The dark colors represent accented 8th notes in a 4/4 bar; the light colors represent the less-stressed beats. These patterns come into play with all our editing tools, so you don’t just get random results when experimenting; the results will be based on beats you have made.

When you apply the GrooveMover, note clusters that originally occur on dark-colored spaces move to the new dark-colored locations. This way, though your accents have clearly changed, the resulting beat still shares some commonality with the original.

Tip: Try selecting every region in a four bar loop and applying GrooveMover.

9.4.2 Move Notes

Deselect Move Notes to override Liquid Rhythm’s underlying pattern suggestions without shifting the notes around.

Simply click on a BarForm pattern (any colored rectangle) to swap it into the selected region(s).

Tip: Notice how the Accent Modifiers shift as you change underlying BarForm patterns. Try different patterns to use the Accent Modifiers on and to get a wider variety of results from the GrooveMover.

9.5.1 How the BeatForm Palette affects the BeatForm Tumbler

Use the BeatForm Palette to determine which BeatForms you can cycle through while using the Tumblers. For example, select the Simple palette to limit your options to “simple” BeatForms in the Tumblers (as illustrated below):

(image)